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THE MILLENNIUM. 



THE MILLENNIUM 



OF THE 



APOCALYPSE 



BY GEORGE BUSH, 

jDROFE SSOR OF HEB. AND ORIENT. LIT. NEW YORKCITY UNIVERSITY. 



econtr JBXiiUon. 



• mi 

f SALEM: ' 

PUBLISHED BY JOHN P. JEWETT. 

tOSTON : TAPPAN AND DENNET CROCKER AKD BREWSTER. 

NEW YORK : DAYTON AND NEWMAN. 

1842. 



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Entered according to Act of Congress, in liio year 1842, by ' 

GEORGE BUSH, ! 

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of Massachusetts. < 



Allen, Morrill &c Wardwell, Printers, 



L 



PREFACE 



TO THE FIRST EDITION. 



It is matter of deep regret that the popular vo- 
cabulary of Christian doctrine should contain so large 
a proportion of vague and undefined or ill-defined 
terms. That a religion based upon a revelation from 
heaven, designed not to confound, but to instruct 
its votaries, — a religion naturally to be regarded as 
the native element of Truth, the appropriate sphere 
of clear knowledge and unambiguous diction, — that 
such a religion, in the utterances of its disciples, 
should abound in terms and phrases, many of them 
of incessant recurrence, to which no precise ideas 
were ordinarily affixed, is certainly an infelicity never 
enough to be deplored. It cannot surely be doubted 
that the sacred volume was given to man in order to 
he understood. It would be at once a gross misno- 
mer as to the book itself, and a foul reflection upon 
its Author, to denominate that a revelation which was 
at the same time so shrouded in triple mystery as to 
baffle the discernment of the unlettered, and to mock 
the prying researches of the curious and the learned. 
Not that we count upon the practicability of all 
classes of readers becoming equally well versed in its 



VI PREFACE. 

contents ; for as this revelation is couched in lan- 
guages which have ceased to be vernacular to the 
people of any nation, a superior insight into its dis- 
closures w^ill ever accrue to those who make them- 
selves familiar with the sacred original tongues ; and 
as the facilities for this attainment are constantly in- 
creasing, and light is pouring in from numerous other 
sources upon the interpretation of the inspired writ- 
ings, it is easily conceivable that each successive gen- 
eration shall advance far beyond its immediate pre- 
decessor in every department of biblical science. In 
seeking, therefore, for the source of that ' blindness 
in part,' which hath happened to the religionists of 
every age, we cannot be mistaken in referring it, in 
great measure, to the neglect of the original lan- 
guages of Scripture. Men have not been studious 
to ascertain with absolute precision the ideas at- 
tached by the Holy Ghost to the words and phrases 
employed by the sacred penmen. Neglecting the 
canons of philology, heedless of investigating the 
usus loquendi in respect to leading words and 
phrases, and paying but slight attention to the sources 
of archa3ological illustration, they have too often im- 
posed a construction upon the language of holy writ 
derived from the systems of the schools, the opinions 
of renowned doctors, or the dictation of ecclesiastical 
synods. Alas ! how many venerable theories and 
darling dogmas in theology would be demolished, as 
by a magician's wand, by the simple touch of the 
finger of philological exegesis ! Here then, we re- 



PREFACE. Vll 

peat it, in the failure to resort to the original fountain- 
heads of truth, we find a large portion of the obscu- 
rity of religious language adequately accounted for ; 
and as we here find the bane, here also we come to 
the knowledge of the antidote. , 

Again, it must be admitted that there is, in the 
mass of men, an innate aversion to a rigid examination 
of the grounds of the opinions they have once adopted, 
or to a critical analysis of the terms by which they 
are ordinarily expressed. They do not like to have 
the quiet of their faith disturbed by an insinuation 
of the weakness of the grounds upon which it rests. 
The ancient and accredited technicalities of religion, 
hallowed as they are by long usage, and wedded to 
the heart by early association, are clung to with the 
most unyielding tenacity. We shrink from the rude 
process of investigation. Inquiry strikes us as little 
short of profanation, and we shudder at it as at the 
lifting up of axes against the carved work of the 
sanctuary. Although we may be in fact unable to 
substantiate our belief fully to our own minds, yet 
the bare thought of a change, as the result of canvas- 
sing our opinions anew, fills us with alarm, and 
binding our established persuasions still closer to our 
hearts, we say with Job, ' I will die in my nest,' ad- 
mitting no treacherous doubts within the precincts of 
our faith for fear of a mental insurrection. Thus 
the dreary bird of night 

" does to the moon complain 



Of such as wandering near her secret bowers, 
Molest her ancient solitary reign." 



Vlll PREFACE. 

But surely it will be conceded that Truth is at all 
times to be preferred to error, though it should be 
supposed that the error were one of a comparatively 
slight and innoxious character. The rigid scrutiny 
of our opinions, therefore, is but the homage due to 
Truth ; and the man who aids us in disabusing our- 
selves even of an innocent error, may justly lay claim 
to some measure of the gratitude bestowed upon him 
who puts us in possession of a new truth. In natural 
husbandry the removal of tares is not indeed the 
same with the production of wheat, yet in mental 
and moral tillage the eradication of error is, in many 
cases, but another name for the implantation of truth. 

The tenor of these remarks applies, if we mistake 
not, with peculiar pertinency to the subject of the 
prevailing impressions — opinions they can scarcely 
be called — respecting the Millennium ; a term de- 
noting, in its popular sense, a future felicitous state 
of the church and the world of a thousand years' du- 
ration, of which, while every one has some vague 
anticipation, almost no one has any clear and well- 
defined conception. No phraseology in prayer, in 
preaching, in the religious essay, or in the monthly- 
concert address, is more common than thatofmtZ- 
lennial state, millennial reign, millennial purity, 
millennial glory, etc. ; all betokening the expecta- 
tion of a coming condition in the affairs of the church 
infinitely transcending, in peace, piety, and bliss, the 
most favored epochs which have yet marked its an- 
nals. Now it may well be made a question, Upon 



PREFACE. IX 

what is this expectation founded ? Has it unequivo- 
cally the warrant of any express declaration of holy 
writ ? Or is it anything more than a mere tradi- 
tionary tenet, which from time immemorial has in 
some way obtained currency among the pious ? How 
few are there of the vast multitude of those who ha- 
bitually have this kind of expression upon their lips, 
who are able ' to give a reason of the (millennial) 
hope that is in them ?' — how few who really and 
truly, on this point, ' know what they say or whereof 
they affirm ?' 

Let it be observed, however, that our interrogatory 
concerns not so much the belief, that a brighter and 
benigner period is yet to dawn upon our world — that 
an era of preeminent peace, purity, and prosperity, 
constituting what is frequently called ' the latter day 
glory,' is yet destined to bless the globe, succeeding 
and compensating ' the years wherein we have seen 
trouble ;' for this is abundantly testified by the pre- 
dictions of the former and the latter prophets, and 
shadowed forth under many a significant parable, 
type, and allegory. The point of our inqury is this : 
On what sufficient grounds has this period come to 
be limited, in the minds of Christians, to the precise 
term of a thousand years, after which it is supposed 
that a grand defection is to ensue, and the followers 
of Christ to be again reduced to a diminutive hand- 
ful ? Judging from other portions of the prophetic 
oracles, our conclusion would certainly be altogether 
the reverse. Dan. 7: 18, 27, ' The saints of the 



PREFACE. 



Most High shall take the kingdom and possess the 
kingdom /or ever, even for ever and ever. And the 
kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the 
kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to 
the people of the saints of the Most High, whose 
kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all domin- 
ions shall serve and obey him." Again, Dan. 2: 44, 
" And in the days of these kings shall the God of 
heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be de- 
stroyed : and the kingdom shall not he left to other 
people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all 
those kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever^ These 
annunciations would certainly seem to preclude the 
prospect of any mere secular empire ever acquiring 
that ascendancy which it is yet supposed will be ac- 
quired by the post-Millennial Gog and Magog of the 
Apocalypse. 

To this we are aware it will be replied, that the 
20th chapter of the Revelation, in announcing that 
* the Dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil 
and Satan, shall be bound and shut up in the bot- 
tomless pit a thousand years, and that the souls of 
them that were beheaded for the testimony of Jesus, 
and the word of God, should live and reign with 
Christ a thousand years, while the rest of the dead 
should not live again till the thousand years were 
finished,' affords a sufficient warrant for the general 
expectation of the Christian world on this subject. 
This, however, it will be observed, is alleged on the 
presumption, that the millennial period spoken of by 



PREFACE. XI 

John is yet future, the very point which we shall en- 
deavor to show is gratuitously assumed. Upon this 
presumption the labors of nearly all preceding expos- 
itors have been unhesitatingly based, and the object 
which they have mainly set themselves to accomplish 
has been, to fix the period of the commencement of 
this golden age of Zion. With this view they have 
constructed various arrangements of the chronologi- 
cal eras of the seals, trumpets, and vials ; of the reign 
of the beast, and the resurrection of the witnesses ; 
while for the leading characters of the period, they 
have had recourse to what they conceive to be the 
parallel announcements of Isaiah and other ancient 
prophets, not doubting that their sublime visions of 
ultimate glory to the church pointed to precisely the 
same epoch with the Millennium of the Apocalypse. 
Now in all this we are constrained to believe, that 
the tower has been begun to be erected before the 
foundation was properly laid. For with one who 
takes nothing for granted in the matter of biblical 
exposition, the first inquiry would naturally be, What 
is to be understood by the Dragon or the Satan (the 
adversary) who is to be bound ? — what by his bind- 
ing] — and what by the Bottomless Pit (Abyss) in 
which he is represented as being shut up ? For as 
the book of Revelation is couched throughout in a 
continuous series of symbols or hieroglyphics, the in- 
ference a priori is, that the Dragon is as truly a sym- 
bolic personage as the Beast with whom he acts in 
concert, or the Woman clothed in scarlet and pur- 



Xll PREFACE. 

pie, and drunk with the blood of the saints, portrayed 
as seated upon the beast and swaying his movements. 
If the Dragon be taken for the devil literally and per- 
sonally, or the prince of fallen spirits, what, we ask, 
can possibly be intended by his being described with 
seven heads and ten horns ? The truth is, this por- 
tion of the hieroglyphical scenery of the Revelation, 
on the common interpretation, never has been, and 
never can be, satisfactorily explained. The great 
point, therefore, which the reader will find labored 
in the ensuing pages, is to settle clearly and demon- 
stratively the symbolical import of the Dragon, for 
upon this the wJiole doctrine of the Millennium 
mainly hinges. In connexion with this, the writer 
has endeavored, at some length, to show the recon- 
dite meaning couched under the emblem of the Abyss 
into which the Dragon was cast, and to fix with as 
much certainty as the subject will admit the precise 
political powers shadowed forth by the mystic de- 
nomination of Gog and Magog. 

The plan of this work unavoidably forced upon 
the author the necessity of somewhat of an impos- 
ing array of learned citations ; for this he bespeaks 
the indulgence of his reader. If the inquiry could 
have been conducted without them, his pages would 
not have been encumbered with a mass of matter 
of so repellent a character. As the quotations, 
however, are all translated, he hopes the mere Eng- 
lish reader will not be deterred, by the formidable 
aspect of his pages, from prosecuting a perusal to 



PREFACE. XIU 



which the title-leaf and the table of contents may 
perhaps invite him. 

Finally, the writer solicits a charitable view of the 
causes which have led him to the adoption of a the- 
ory of the Millennium so diverse from that gener- 
ally entertained. In his own mind he is concious 
of having embraced it from no motive of broaching 
a novel hypothesis, for in truth it is not novel. He 
has been forced purely by stress of evidence to adopt 
the conclusion announced, and, in some sort, sup- 
ported, in the ensuing work ; and as his object has 
been to exhibit in a connected view the chain of 
proofs which have determined his own convictions, 
he feels free to demand, as matter of common justice, 
that the reader should sit in judgment, not, in the 
first instance, upon the conclusion itself, which must 
necessarily encounter a host of prejudices, but upon 
the sufficiency or insufficiency of the reasons alleg- 
ed in its support. Let the premises be refuted before 
the conclusion is denied. This conclusion, whether 
sound or not, involves, indeed, the starthng position 
that the Millennium, strictly so called, is past ; but 
that the writer has not been led to embrace or utter 
this opinion merely from a perverse love of paradox, 
and that he has no disposition ruthlessly to pluck from 
the bosom of the Christian or the philanthropist so 
fond and sacred a hope as that of a coming age of 
hght and glory to the church, without offering any 
thing to compensate the spoliation, will be evident 
to every one who shall be sufficiently interested to 



XIV PREFACE. 

follow his speculations to their close. Instead of 
robbing the treasury of Christian hope of a gem so 
precious, and of abstracting from benevolent effort so 
mighty a motive, it vi^ill be seen that his view of the 
futurities of Zion, admitting the Millennium to be 
past, opens to the eye of faith a still more cheering 
prospect, a lengthened vista of richer and brighter 
beatitudes. 

" No hope that way, is 
Another way so high an hope, that e'en 
Ambition cannot pierce a wink beyond, 
But doubts discovery there." 



PREFACE 



TO THE SECOND EDITION. 



The present work having been for some years out 
of print, and a new interest having in the mean 
time sprung up in prophetical studies, the author has 
yielded to the suggestions made to him from differ- 
ent quarters, to prepare a second edition for the press. 
In doing this he has found occasion for no other 
than very slight alterations, additions, or omissions. 
Seeing no reason on mature reflection, to distrust the 
soundness of the main conclusion, but on the con- 
trary finding his confidence in it continually growing- 
stronger, he gives this edition of the work to the 
public revised, but substantially unchanged. If the 
general result of his reasonings should not meet with 
a consenting response from the bosom of the Chris- 
tian community, the author still allows himself to 
believe, that important principles of interpretation 
incidentally developed in the course of the argument, 
will go far to compensate the failure of conviction on 
the leading point. G. B. 

Salem, Feb. 16, 1842. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

ANCIENT OPINIONS, JEWISH AND CHRISTIAN, ON THE SUB- 
JECT OF A MILLENNIUM. 

Definition of the word Millennium — The doctrine of the Millen- 
nium founded but upon a single express Passage of Scripture — 
Diversity of opinions as to the Time of its Commencement — 
Jewish Origin of the Millennarian Hypothesis — Built upon an 
allegorical Exposition of the history of the Creation in six days 
followed by the Rest of the seventh — Confirmed by Extracts — 
Estimate of the value of the Rabbinical Tradition — Early adopt- 
ed by several of the Christian Fathers — Rejected by others — 
Controversy on the subject in the Primitive Church — Extracts 
from tlie writings of the Fathers — Probable Reasons of the early 
Prevalence of Millennarian sentiments — Testimony of Gib- 
bon Page 1 



CHAPTER n. 

MODERN OPINIONS RESPECTING THE APOCALYPTIC MIL- 
LENNIUM. 

Historical Sketch of the Decline of the Millennarian theory, and of 
its Revival at the Reformation — The modern advocates of a fu- 
ture Millennium divided into two Classes — The first hold to the 
personal Reign of Christ on earth during the thousand years — 
Mede, Caryll, Gill, Noel, Irving, Anderson, quoted — Claim to 
found their expectation upon a passage in the second Epistle of 
Peter — Remarks upon this interpretation — The second Class de- 
ny the Personal, but maintain the Spiritual Reign of Christ — 
Confirmed by Extracts from Whitby, Bogue, Johnston . 26 



XVIU CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER m. 

EXPLICATION OF THE SYMBOL OF THE DRAGON. 

The binding of Satan or the Dragon the main feature of the antici- 
pated Millennium — Necessary to determine the Import of this 
Symbolical Action — This cannot be done without first fixing the 
import of the Dragon himself as a Symbol — With this view the 
Vision of the Dragon, Rev. xii., minutely considered — The sun- 
clad and star-crowned Woman explained — The Dragon shown 
to be a symbol of Paganism — The War between Michael and the 
Dragon explained — The remaining Circumstances of the Vision 
explained — Objections answered — Reflections . . .42 



CHAPTER IV. 

THE TRUE DOCTRINE OF THE MILLENNIUM STATED AND 
CONFIRMED. 

The Connection of the twentieth Chapter of the Revelation with 
the preceding portions of the Book stated — The Identity of the 
Dragon throughout the Apocalypse maintained — The Binding of 
the Dragon explained — Its date determined — Confirmed by His- 
tory — Particulars of the symbolic Imagery further elucidated — 
Symbol of the Bottomless Pit or Abyss explained — Opinions of 
Lightfoot, Turretin, Mastricht, and Marck quoted — Satan's de- 
ceiving the Nations explained — Whether the Millennium to con- 
sist of a thousand literal years — Explication of the Thrones, and 
of the Souls of the Martyrs seen in the Vision, and of their Liv- 
ing and Reigning with Christ a thousand years . . .93 

CHAPTER V. 

EXPLICATION OF THE GOG AND MAGOG OF THE 
APOCALYPSE. 

Various Opinions of Commentators respecting Gog and Magog — 
Reason of this Diversity — The mention of this mystic Power by 
John extremely brief and obscure, because more fully predicted 



CONTENTS. XIX 

by Ezekiel — The Identity of the Gog and Magog described by 
the two Prophets maintained — An extended Exposition of Eze- 
kiel, Ch. xxxviii — GJ-og^ and Magog shown to be a prophetical de- 
nomination of the Turks — Consequently the same Power with 
the Euphratean horsemen of the sixth Trumpet, and to be refer- 
red to the same Period — As certain, therefore, that the Millen- 
nium is past, as that the events of the sixth Trumpet have trans- 
pired — Destruction of Gog and Magog by Fire from Heaven ex- 
plained — Objections answered 148 



CHAPTER VI. 

CONCLUSION. 

Correct Views of the Millennium attainable only from a right Inter- 
pretation of the Prophetic Symbols — Whatever Difficulties attend 
the Theory broached in the present Treatise, the common Doc- 
trine embarrassed by equal or greater — Some of them stated — 
Hints respecting the predicted Conflagration of the Heavens and 
the Earth — True Character of the Prophetic Intimations of the 
future Prospects of the Church and the World . . 191 



THE MILLENNIUM. 



CHAPTER L 



ANCIENT OPINIONS, JEWISH AND CHRISTIAN, ON THE SUB- 
JECT OF A MILLENNIUM. 

The etymological import of the word Millennium is, as 
is well known, the space of a thousand years. The terra, 
considered by itself, does not point to a.ny particular peri- 
od of that extent, but may be applied indifferently to any 
one of the five millenniums which have elapsed since the 
creation, to the sixth now verging towards its close, or to 
the seventh, which is yet to come. But long-established 
usage has given the word a restricted application, and 
where it occurs without specification it is universally un- 
derstood to refer to the period mentioned by the prophet of 
Patmos, Rev. 20; 1-7. "And I saw an angel come down 
from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a 
great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, 
that old serpent, which is the Devil and Satan, and bound 
him a thousand years, and cast him into the bottomless pit, 
and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should 
deceive the nations no more till the thousand years should 
be fulfilled : and after that he must be loosed a little sea- 
son. And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and 
judgment was given unto them : and I saw the souls of 
them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for 
the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, 
neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their 
I 



a THE MILLENNIUM. 

foreheads, or in their hands ; and they lived and reigned 
with Christ a thousand years. But the rest of the dead 
lived not again until the thousand years were finished. 
This is ihe first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he that 
hath part in the first resurrection : on such the second 
death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and 
of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years. And 
when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed 
out of his prison. 

This, it is to be observed, is the only ciprcss passage in 
the whole compass of the Scriptures, in which mention is 
made of the period of a thousand years in connexion with 
the prospective lot of the church ; consequently that which 
is emphatically styled the doctrine of the Millennium rests 
wholly and entirely upon the inteq^retation given of this 
portion of the Apocalypse. This period, the reader is 
aware, is considered by the mass of modern commentators 
and divines to be yet future. The degree of its proximity 
to our own times is variously estimated according to the 
peculiar hypotheses of different expositors in regard to the 
plan and structure of the book, and their several arrange- 
ments of its chronological eras. Mr. Faber, with a large 
class of readers, fixes its commencement to the year 1866; 
the school of Messrs. Irving, Drummond, Begg, and others, 
are in daily expectation of the glorious personal epiphany 
of our Lord and Saviour coming in the clouds of heaven 
to put an end, by desolating judgments, to the present de- 
generate order of things within the bounds of Christendom, 
and to usher in the full splendor of the Millennial reign.* 
Others again, forming a very respectable class of exposi- 
tors, defer the commencing epoch of the Millennium to the 
year 2000, or thereabouts, that the period may coincide with 
the seventh thousand years from the creation, constituting 



* This was written in 1832. 



THE MILLENNIUM. 3 

what may be termed the Great Sabbatism of the world. 
The following extracts from the writings of two distin- 
guished advocates of this latter opinion may be considered 
as representing the sentiments of their class- 

" Without taking upon me to name the precise year of the 
commencement of Antichrist's reign, shall I suppose it will 
have ceased and the Milleuniimi commence about the two 
thousanddi year of the Christian era ? Should I say there 
appears a greater probability that the longed-for event will 
take place at that time than at the second period (1866) which 
has been mentioned, and the seventh thousand years of the 
world's existence prove a glorious sabbatic day of rest and 
peace and joy ? — perliaps it would disappoint the ardent 
hope of its earlier approach which some fondly entertain ; 
and I think I can perceive the disappointment expressed in 
your sorrowful looks. But if you view the subject with at- 
tention, there will be no cause either for disappointment or 
for grief, but infinitely much for gladness and rejoicing. You 
have not even the shadow of a reason for ceasing from your 
benevolent exertions in despondency, but the best and most 
forcible of reasons for proceeding in your endeavors to hasten 
on the glory of the latter days. Let it be granted that near- 
ly two hundred 3 ears must yet revolve before the Millen- 
nium begin, immense is the mass of labor which must, dur- 
ing that whole space, without intermission, be emi)loyed to 
bring it into existence. Eighteen centuries have already 
elapsed since the coming of the Saviour into the world, but 
in the two that are yet to come, more remains to be done 
than in all the eighteeji which are past. The religion of Je- 
sus in its purity is not yet even professed by a twentieth part 
of the inhabitants of the earth. Judge then what a Hercu- 
lean labor it must be, in the space of two hundred years, to 
convert the other nineteen parts to the faith of Christ Were 
we to be told, that for a long course of time, four millions 
of souls were annually brought to the knowledge of the 
truth, what a wonderful as well as what a delightful event 
we shoidd conceive it to be ! But on an average for near 
two centuries to come, more than this number must be con- 
verted every year, before the whole world can be brought 
into subjection to the Redeemer."— jBogue'5 Disc, on the Mill 
p. 608, 8vo. ed. 



4 THE MILLENNIUM. 

" The Millennium must commence immediately upon the 
final overthrow of Papal Rome. But it was formerly shown 
in its i)roper place that Papal Rome shall be comjjletely over- 
thrown in the end of the year of Christ 1999. The Millen- 
nium therefore, which both in the order of this prophecy 
and in the nature of the thing follows close upon the over- 
throw of Papal Rome, must commence in the beginning of 
the year of Christ 2000. On account of the ])revalence of 
ti'ue religion and the total rest from wars in it, the Millen- 
nium is, as it were, the great sabbath of the whole earth." — 
Johnston on the Rev. vol. ii. p. 319. 

These extracts are of great importance, not only as ac- 
quainting us with the views of their authors relative to the 
commencement of this illustrious era, but as disclosing also 
the probable origin of the prevailing Millennarian hypoth- 
esis. It is founded upon a Jewish tradition, according to 
lohich the six days employed in the creation of the world 
were each of them typical of a thousand years, and the rest 
of the seventh a jjnfguration of the great sabbatical Mil- 
Icnnary of the world. Daubuz, by far the ablest of all 
commentators on the visions of John, thus speaks of the 
origin of the Apocalyptic Millennium : 

" It may be observed, that as the Jewish church had no ab- 
solute rest or sabbatism as the Millennium is, so the Holy 
Ghost could not derive the symbol from that economy, but 
was as it were obliged to draw it from an higher fountain, 
or original of ideal types and events. But, however, even 
this original idea was known to the Jews. They had a tra- 
dition of it, and the notion was current even before St. John 
wrote. He has not then treated of the Millennium as a new 
thing, but has described it in some measure by the old no- 
tions with im[>rovements: and besides that, showed us how 
it is accomplished by Christ, by giving us a full account of 
the antecedents and consecpients. Now that tiadition was 
grounded upon the allegorical exposition of the creation of 
the world in six da} s, and the rest of God in the seventh ; 
and tlint a thousand years are with God as one day. Whence 
it is argued, that as God created the world in six days, and 
rested on the seventh, so he will redeem mankind and work 



THE MILLENNIUM. O 

out their redemption in six thousand years, and procure his 
and their sabhatism in the seventh thousand : this rest being 
to be proportionable to the duration of the work. By con- 
sequence, tliat term of one thousand years is to be taken in a 
literal sense, and must consist of a thousand years in the 
common acceptation of the Avord ; and needs no further evo- 
lution, as some of late have pretended, because it is fixed by 
that traditional allegory. Now that the Jews had it must be 
plain from this, thai \ye find it in St. Barnabas, who wrote 
before St John many years. And indeed we give very good 
reasons in our Commentary to think that the notion is as old 
as the Deluge, because we find it pretty plainly to be also 
the tradition of the Chaldean Magi, and jjerhaps too of the 
Egyptians." — Daubuz, Perpet. Comment, on the Rev. p. 64. 1720. 

Before proceeding to adduce evidence of the existence 
of this tradition among the Jews, the reader will permit us 
to introduce another citation showing still more distinctly 
the use which is made by Christian writers of the above- 
mentioned allegory. 

"Through the whole Scriptures, both of the Old and New 
Testament, there is a striking typical representation of some 
great and important Sabbath, as a great septenary that has 
not yet taken place, and which evidently appears to be the 
Millennarian septenary, as the great Sabbath of the whole 
earth. Thus, Gen. 2: 3, ' God blessed the seventh day, and 
sanctified it.' Ex. 20: 8-1 1. The appointment of the seventh 
day as the weekly sabbath was renewed in a most solemn 
manner. Levit. 25: 1-7. Every seventh year w^as appointed 
a sabbatical year; and Levit. 25: 8, 9, the commencement of 
the year of jubilee, which was every fiftieth year, was to be 
fixed by the running of a septenary of siibbatical j^ears ; 'And 
thou shalt number seven sabbaths of years unto thee, seven 
years, and the space of the seven sabbaths of years shall be 
unto thee forty and nine years.' The number seven, because 
used in Scripture to complete all the sacred divisions of time, 
was regarded by the Jews as the symbol of perfection, and 
is used in this sense in Scripture. Is it ever to be supposed 
that all these events, which are interwoven with the Mosaic 
dispensation, which was symbolical or typical itself, and 
wJiich are introduced into the New Testament, and abound 
1* 



6 



THE MILLENNIUM. 



SO much in this book of Revelation, have no antitype to cor- 
respond to them, no great sabbatical septenary to which they 
all point, and in which they shall all be accomplished ? Is 
it not highly probable that they are all typical of the seventh 
Millennary of the earth, which is the great Sabbath r" — John- 
ston on the Rev. vol. ii. p. 320. 

As our object in the present chapter is to trace the Mil- 
lennarian theory, as held in modern times, to its primitive 
source, and thence, travelling downwards, to detail the 
consecutive history of opinion upon the subject even to 
the days in which we live, we shall begin with the allega- 
tion of testimonies to the^fact of the existence among the 
Jews of the tradition above-mentioned ; after which we 
shall endeavor to show that this tradition was adopted by 
the early Christians, and that upon it all the modern no- 
tions of the Millennium have been grafted. 

" It is certain that the Jews interpreted days as signifying 
millenniums, and reckoned millenniums by days. Thus they 
say : ' In the time to come, whicli is in the last days, — on the 
sixth day, which is the sixth millenniuui, when the Messiah 
comes, — for the day of the holy blessed God is a thousand 
years.' Again, ' The sixth degree is called the sixth day ; the 
day of the holy blessed God is a thousand years.' So they call 
the Sabbath or seventli day the seventh millennium, and inter- 
pret ' the song for the Sabbath-day,' Ps. xcii. a title for the sev- 
enth millennium, for one day of the blessed God is a thousand 
years.' To which agrees the tradition of Elias, which rims 
thus: "Tis the tradition of the house of Elias that the world 
shall be (endure) six thousand years, two thousand void (of the 
law) ; two thousand years the law ; and two thousand years 
the days of the Messiah ;' for they suppose that the six days of 
creation were expressive of the six thousand years which the 
world will stand, and that the seventh day prefigures the last 
millennium, in which will be the day of judgment and the 
world to come ; ' for the six days, say they, is a sign or intima- 
tion of these things : on the sixth day man was created, and 
on the seventh the work was finished ; so the kings of the na- 
tions of the world (continue) five millenniums, answering to 
the fiv^e days in which were created the fowls, and the creep- 



THE MILLENNIUM. 7 

ing things of the water, and other things ; and the enjoy- 
ment of their kingdom is a httle in the sixth, answerable to 
the creation of the beasts and living creatures created at 
this time in the begiunhig of it; and the kingdom of the 
house of David is in the sixth milJenniunj, answerable to 
the creation of man, who knew his Creator and ruled over 
them all ; and in the end of that millennium Avill be the day 
of judgment, answerable to man, who was judged in the 
end ; and the seventh is the Sabbath, and it is the begin- 
ning of the world to come." — Gill on 2 Pet. 3:8. 

" This solemnity (the year of release) as some conjecture 
was a shadow of that everlasting Sabbath expected in the 
heavens. And this is supposed to be the foundation of the 
opinion of a learned Rabbi, who asserts that the world 
should continue for six thousand years ; but the seventh 
thousand should be the great sabbatical year: the six thous- 
and answering to the six working days of the week, and the 
seventh to the Sabbath. His words are, ' Six thousand 
years the world shall be, and again it shall be destroyed ; 
two thousand shall be void, two thousand under the law, and 
two thousand under the Messiah. The substance of this opin- 
ion is certainly to he rejected as too curious ; yet since it was 
delivered by a Jew, it may serve to prove against them that 
the Messiah is already come, and that the law of Moses ceas- 
ed at his coming." — Lewises Heh. Antiq. vol. ii. p. 611. 

Upon these quotations, which might be indefinitely mul- 
tiplied from the Rabbinical writers, it may be observed : 

(1) That the tradition recited appears to be rightly re- 
garded as a tradition, and nothing more. We do not find 
that it rests upon any express declaration of the inspired 
scriptures of the Old Testament, the only portion of the 
sacred volume to which an appeal would be made by a 
Jew. As far, moreover, as we are able to discover the ori- 
gin of the tradition, it is to be traced up to one Elias ; 
but who he was, when he lived, and w^hat might have been 
his claims to the prophetic character, w^e are left in utter 
ignorance. We know, indeed, that some later advocates 
of the opinion have maintained, that he was no other than 
the Elias or Elijah of the Scriptures, who lived in the 



8 THE MILLENNIUM. 

reign of Ahab, but they have never, we believed, advan- 
ced a particle of proof in support of the position. It un- 
questionably comes to us, therefore, as a mere traditionary 
legend, which every one is at liberty to adopt or reject as 
he pleases. It is accompanied by no external credentials 
which should entitle it to any higher rank in our estima- 
tion, than the thousand idle conceits and puerile glosses 
of the Talmudical annotators. The propensity of the 
Jewish writers to mystic and allegorizing interpretation is 
well known, and in the present instance their exposition 
of the Mosaic history of the creation savors strongly of the 
dreams of the Cabala. At the same time, it is but fair to 
admit that, as there is nothing in the Scriptures which di- 
rectly contradicts it, the tradition ;««?/ be well founded. 
It has, perhaps, more of an air o^ internal probability than 
most of the Rabbhiic fancies which have laid a tax upon 
human credulity. The use of the number seven in the sa- 
cred volume is certainly remarkable, and cannot but be ad- 
mitted in many cases to possess a mystical import. It is 
by no means impossible that it may be so in the present 
instance. At any rate, we are disposed to treat with re- 
spect an opinion which has been for ages in vogue among 
the pious, though it may lack that degree of evidence, on 
the score of origin and authority, which should entitle it 
to a place among the articles of our faith. We are not, 
therefore, prepared to class among the vagaries and hallu- 
cinations of Jewish conceit the interpretation in question. 
All that we affirm is, that it is not, and cannot be, authori- 
tative. But, 

(2) Even on the supposition that this allegorical expo- 
sition is founded in truth, it does not follow that the sab- 
batical millennary of the Judaic tradition is the same with 
the thousand years of the Apocalypse. The identity of 
the p'eriods is certainly a gratuitous assumption. For ought 
that appears to the contrary, though it should be granted 



THE MILLENNIUM. 9 

that a sevenfold series of chiliads is destined to measure 
this world's duration, the Millennium of John may coin- 
cide with some other of the number than the seventh. The 
very point, therefore, which of all others stood most in 
need of confirmation is fortified with the least. So little 
countenance does the doctrine of a Christian Millennium 
yet future receive from the uncertain dogma of a grand 
concluding Sabbath of the world. 

That there was, however, an early transfusion or incor- 
poration of this feature of Judaism into the Christianity of 
the primitive fathers, will be evident from the following 
testimonies collected from their writings. Nor should this 
be matter of surprise when it is considered that many of 
the first Christians were by birth Jews, who had been 
trained up in all the distinctive peculiarities of the Mosaic 
economy, and were, like Paul, ' exceedingly zealous of the 
traditions of their fathers.' It was natural, therefore, that 
they should endeavor to harmonize the prophetic an- 
nouncements of the New Testament as far as possible with 
the views which they had imbibed from Jewish sources of 
the later destinies of the church and the world. Their 
sentiments, accordingly, were deeply tinctured with the 
hue of those preconceptions which they brought with them 
from the synagogues and schools of their early education. 
From them the opinion would naturally be propagated 
among the gentile converts. Of this we shall hope to 
lay conclusive evidence before the minds of our readers. 

Of the Christian writers of the first century, who allude 
to this subject, Barnabas in his epistle speaks thus : 

"'And God made in six days the works of his hands, and 
he finished them on the seventh day, and he rested in it, 
and sanctified it.' Consider, children, what that signifies, ^e 
Jinished them in six days. This it signifies, that the Lord 
God will finish all things in six thousand years. For a day 
with him is a thousand years ; as he himself testifieth, say- 
ing, ' Behold this day shall be as a thousand years.' There- 



10 THE MILLENNIUM. 

fore, children, in six days, that is, in six thousand years, shall 
all things be consummated. And he rested the seventh day : 
this signifies, that when liis Son shall come, and shall abol- 
ish the season of the wicked one (Antichrist,) and shall 
change the sun and the moon and the stars, then he shall 
rest gloriously in that seventh day."* 

The genuineness of this epistle is indeed disputed ; but 
as far as the present argument is concerned, it is imma- 
terial who the real author was. There is sufficient testi- 
mony that it is the production of a very early period of 
the Christian church, and it contains undeniable evidence 
of the origin of those opinions which were in circulation 
respecting an expected reign of a thousand years, or a sev- 
enth Millennium. 

Justin Martyr, in the second century, declares the Mil- 
lennium to be the Catholic doctrine of his time. 

" I, and as many as are orthodox Christians in all respects, 
do acknowledge that there shall be a resurrection of the 
flesh, and a residence of a thousand years in Jerusalem re- 
built, and adorned, and enlarged, as the prophets Ezekiel, 
and Isaiah, and others do unanimously attest."f 

* — Knl ijo'u](Tfv 6 ^tog iv f| ij^EQaic ru u^ya tcu»' yjiQG)V 
ttVTOV, yjtl avv(Ti).f(Tfv tv ij] r^^ioft ij] f(5(5o//7/, xttl y.aTsnuvatv 
iv nviT], y.nl r,yin(T(v uvvt]v. JJfjoasysif, isxva ri Xsysi, to (tv- 
vfTEAstrfp e'p t$ )]!.iiQaig' rovxo Uyfij uii avvTfXn 6 i^toc y.i'Qiog 
iv ilfiy.iaylXioQ 'inai t« rravrtx. ^JI yixQ lifiiou nu(j witoj yl- 
Xiu fit], (xiric Se fiDiQrvQtl, XsyMv, idov (j)](.ifQOv i)^i(i(t taiat wg 
ylXin hTYj. Ol'xovv, Tfy.va, iv i$ tjuEQniCj iv i^ayiaylXioig tieai, 
awTtXtad/jafTdL tu Tn'tvin. Kal yaiinavaz rfi rjfdoa rfj tiido- 
ftfj roi'To Xiysi, oirtv iXd^Mv o vibg txvToi; ycxl y.nmoyi'iiTfi tov 
y.ixiQoi' uv6^io\\ yul y.<)i.vu lolg aaejSng, x«t aXXui^u rov 't')Xiov, 
y.ixlrijv aflrjri]r, y.(xl tore ncriioac, tots y.nXotg y.aztJiavcTfiaL iv 
TiJ r^^fon ifi s3Suj.tr]. — S. Barn. Epist. c. 15. 

fV-'/ai di,yjn h Tivig siaiv o^d^nyvbiuovsg yc/ra navxix Xqi- 
(JTinvtu, y<il aixoy.ug ixruarixaiv yivrjUia&ui inKjttxfif&n, x«t yi~ 
Xux I'll] iv'fsoov(T(xXriU olxodourj&fia)], y.al y.o(T}Ai}&il(rrj y.itl nXa- 
tiv 3 H(T)] {(xtg) 01 7iQ0&)'jTtxL'fb'^iy.ii)X, y.<u "JLTtx'i'ag, y.ul ol aXXoi 
o^oXoyoitTLv. — Just. Mart. Dial, cum Tryph. p. 313. 



THE MILLENNIUM. 11 

But here Justin's proof, if proof it can be called, is ex- 
ceedingly deficient ; for the prophets referred to, say noth- 
ing respecting the period of a thousand years, so that his 
expectation, as far as it relates to a limited term of years, 
clearly betrays its Jewish original. He afterwards sub- 
joins : — 

" A certain man among us, whose name was John, one of 
the apostles of Christ, in a revelation made to him, did pro- 
phesy that the faithfid believers in Christ should live a thou- 
sand years in the New .Jerusalem, and after these should be 
the general resurrection and Judgment."* 

In the order of time Irenaeus is the next authority who is 
particularly entitled to attention. 

" In whatever number of days the world was created, in 
the same number of thousands of years it will come to an 
end. And therefore the Scripture says, that the heavens and 
the earth were completed and all their embellishments. And 
God finished on the sixth day the works which he made. 
And God ceased on the seventh day from all his works. 
This is a narration of the past, and a prophecy relative to the 
future ; for the day of the Lord is as a thousand years."f 

Cyprian speaks thus : — 

" Thus in the divine arrangement of the world seven days 

*^ Avriq Tig m ovofia^Ibjdvi^sg, sic litiv anoiriulMv toi Xqiutov^ 

iv txnoy.nXvipfi yfvo^tvj] avTO) x'lliii i'lt] Tion](Tiiv h''h()ova(tU]n 
Tovg TM i]fiSia(jM Xqi(TT(o niaxhvcrnvTng n^OfcprjJU'ai-, y.(xl f^sTu 
tttVTU Ti]V yiadoliy.^v y.cti, (TSveXovTicpixvai, ulbirluv ofiodouadov 
ot^a navTiav vtracFiaaiv y£vt]as(jx)^ui y.al yglatv. — Ibid. p. 315. 

f" 0(T(xi(T rjfxEQciig eyirsio o y.offfiog, xoanvjoig ;^di6vTotai avt'Tb- 
IsiTixi' xat dia tolto q)i](Tiv t) yQUfpiy xul avpifXsa&rjaav o 
ovQavog y.ul Tj yi]^ y.(xi nixg o y.oufiog uvTU)y yul (TvmsXiasv o 
Osog jfi Tj^usfjrx tijg t« sgya aliov li tTiolrjfrs, yal ymsnavat o 
Osog iv tfi ri^fQn if] '^ «7T(> navrwr tmv tgyMv avTov. ToTto 
d^ fOTt TD<>' TiQoytyovoTfov diriyr,(Tig, y.al twj' faofjtvMP nQoqisrsla' 
Tj yuQ 7]f4SQa Kvgi'ov uig /t'Atw hi]. — IrencBus Adv. Hcereses, L. 
5. p. 444, 445. 



12 THE MILLENNIUM. 

were at first employed, and in them seven tliousand years 
were included."* 

The next testimony is taken from Tertullian. 

" After a thousand years, within which period the resur- 
rection of the saints is included, who will rise sooner or 
later according to their services, then we heing changed to 
angelic natures shall be transferred into a celestial kingdom."t 

The following is from Lactantius. 

" Since in six days the works of God were all completed, 
so through six ages, that is, through six thousand years, the 
world must remain in iis present state. And again, since 
when his works were all perfected he rested on the seventh 
day and blessed it, so at the end of six thousand years all 
wickedness must be banished from the earth, and righteous- 
ness reign for a thousand years."J 

But although there was a signal agreement among the 
ancient fathers as to the period of the world to which the 
Apocalyptic millennium was to be assigned, there was a 
marked diversity of opinion as to the real character of the 
period itself. There were in fact in that age, as there are 
in modern times, two distinct classes of chiliasts, the literal 
and the spiritual^ or, as they have been termed the gross 

* Prima dispositione divina septem dies annoruni septcm inillia 
continentes. — Cijpr. Dc Exhort. Mart. c. 11. 

t Post mille annos intra quam aetatein includitur sanctorum res- 
urrectio pro meritis maturius vel tardiiis rcsurgentium ; tunc de- 
mutat.i in atomo in angolicam substantiam transfcremur in cceleste 
regnuin. — Tertul. Jidv. Marcion^ L. 3. c. 24. 

X Qiioniam sex diebus cuncta Dei opera perfecta sunt; per se- 
cula sex, id est, annorum sex millia manere in hoc statu mundum 
necesso est. Et rursus quoniam perfectis operibus requievit die 
septimo eumque benedixit ; nccesse est ut in fine sexli millesimi 
anni malitia omnis abolatur c terra et rcgnet per annos mille jus- 
titia. — Lactantius, L. 7. c. 14, 



THE MILLENNIUM. 13 

and the refined. By the one party, the anticipation was 
confidently cherished of the personal reign of Christ on 
earth, of the literal resurrection of the martyred saints, of 
the rebuilding of the temple and city of Jerusalem, of the 
reinhabitation of the land of Israel by its ancient occupants, 
and of the investiture of all the risen righteous with a 
kingly preeminence over the remnant nations of the globe. 
They held, moreover, that this halcyon era would be dis- 
tinguished by an unprecedented fertility of the earth, which 
should teem with the utmost profusion of the treasures of 
its bosom, and accumulate without measure the elements 
of every sensual and corporeal delight. ' The earth,' says 
Lactantius, ' shall disclose its exuberance, the labor of til- 
lage shall be unnecessary to secure the most abundant har- 
vests, the rocks of the mountains shall sweat with honey, 
wine shall run down in streams, and the rivers flow with 
milk.'* In a word, their anticipated millennium, ifv/emay 
judge from the letter of the strong language in which it is 
described, was but another name for an Epicurean heaven. 
Still it is but fair to admit, that some cdlowance is perhaps 
to be made on the score of the highly figured and luxuri- 
ating style which they were led to employ in portraying 
the felicities of their expected kingdom. They possibly 
might have disclaimed the very gross and carnal interpreta- 
tion which their opponents put upon their language, al- 
though after every abatement on this score, an ample resi- 
duum of wild extravagance remains to characterize their 
hypothesis. Papias, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Tertullian, 
and Lactantius, are ranked among the leading abettors of 
this opinion. Bishop Bull, unwilling to give up these ven- 
erated names to the opprobrium of being numbered on the 
side of so foul a heresy, kindly endeavors to throw the veil 

* Terra vero aperiet fcecunditatem suam, et uberrimas fruges 
sua spirito generabit : rupes montium melle sudabunt, per rivos 
vinadecurrent,etflumina facte inundabunt. — Lactantius^ L,7. c.24. 

2 



14 THE MILLENNIUM. 

of a lenient and charitable construction over the most re- 
pulsive features of their system. Speaking of an expression 
which Justin Martyr ascribes to Trypho, viz. ' That it is 
given to him Jesus (Christ) to judge all men without ex- 
ception, and that his kingdom is eternal,' he remarks : '* 1 
think that this clause, 'Of whose kingdom there shall bo 
no end,' was directed against the Cerinthians, who taught, 
that those magnificent things which are mentioned in the 
Scriptures concerning the kingdom of Christ, are to be 
understood of an earthly, carnal, and Epicurean reign, 
during a thousand years. There were, indeed, in the 
first age after the apostles, many even of the orthodox, 
amofig whom was Justin, whom I have a little before been 
praising, who expected a kingdom of Christ on earth for a 
thousand years. But their opinion, though perhaps errone- 
ous, was as distant as possible from the Corinthian heresy ; 
for those orthodox Christians were very far from believing 
that the felicity of this kingdom consisted in meats and 
drinks and marriages; which, as Dionysius of Alexandria 
informs us, was the impure and sordid opinion of Cerin- 
thus. But they expected a kingdom of Christ, in which 
peace would flourish, in which truth, and righteousness, 
and piety would prevail, and the sacred name of God be 
everywhere celebrated with deserved praise. Then the 
orthodox hoped for a temporary kingdom of Christ, only as 
a prelude'(if I may so express myself) to his celestial king- 
dom, which they believed would endure through everlast- 
ing ages."* Lardner, in like manner, endeavors to retrieve 
the credit of Cerinthus himself t 

The Anti-millennarians, on the other hand, though they 
looked equally with the others for an ulterior state of tran- 
scendant prosperity and glory to the people of God, yet 



* BuUi Judicium Eccl. Cath. c. (i. p. Go. 

t Lardner s JVorks, vol. ii. p. 701. Lend. 1829. 



THE MILLENNIUM. 15 

they strenuously maintained that the passages of holy writ 
which announced it, were to be allegorically interpreted. 
Thus says Origen : " Those who deny the millennium are 
Ob TQonoloyovvxsg t« ngocprjtiy.a — those who interpret the 
sayings of the prophets by a trope^* Those on the con- 
trary, who maintained it, are styled soUus literce discipuli, 
— disciples of the letter only. The first, says he, assert 
' horum vim fguraliter intelligi dehcre, — the import of these 
things ought to he figuratively understood ;' the others, he 
adds, understand the scripture, " Judaico sensu, — after the 
manmr of the Jews.""! So Epiphanius, speaking of the no- 
tion of the millennium maintained by Apollinarius, says, 
"There is indeed a millennium mentioned by John, but 
the majority of pious men look upon those words as true in- 
deed, bat to be taken in a spiritual sense. "J The advo- 
cates of a spiritual interpretation accordingly received from 
the opposite party the cLppeWatioii o^ allegorists, and Nepos, 
a defender of the millennarian theory, entitled his work 
"'EXr/xov Tcov ulhy/OQicriMv, — a refutation of the allegorists. 
Of these tropical expositors Ireneeus says, " I am not igno- 
rant that some among us who believe, in divers nations and 
by various works, and who, believing, do consent with the 
just, do yet endeavor, — to turn these things into metaphors. 
But if some have attempted to allegorize these things, they 
have not been found in all things consistent with them- 
selves, and may be confuted from the words themselves."! 

We perceive, however, an equal positiveness in the de- 
niers of what they deemed a voluptuous millennium. Gen- 
nadius says, "In the divine promises we believe nothing 
concerning meat and drink, as Irenaeus, Tertullian, and 
Lactantius teach from their author Papias, nor of the reign 

* IliQi u()X(xiv, L. 2. c. 12. t Ibid. 

t — alr^dH] ^iv ovToc, h ^a&vrrjXL ds (Ta(pr}vi^6fisva tisjiktiev- 
yMfftr.— ^pipIt- H(cr. 77 § 26, p. 1031, 
X Irenceus ,8dv. Hccr. L. 5. c. 33. 



16 THE MILLENNIUM. 

of a thousand years of Christ on earth after the resurrec- 
tion, and the saints reigning deliciously with him, as Ne- 
pos taught."* 

Augustin also observes of this opinion, " That it might 
be tolerable if they mentioned any spiritual delights which 
the saints might enjoy by Christ's presence ; but since 
they affirm that they who then rise shall enjoy carnal and 
immoderate banquets of meat and drink without modesty, 
these things can only be believed by carnal men."t 

Origen moreover speaks of this opinion, "As a wicked 
doctrine, a reproach to Christianity, the heathens them- 
selves having better sentiments than these."| And Euse- 
bius says of it, ** That it took its rise from Papias, a man 
of slender judgment ; but the antiquity of the man pre- 
vailed with many of the ecclesiastics to be of that opinion, 
particularly with Irenaeus, and if there were any other of 
the same judgment with him."§ 

But of all the ancients the most inveterate oppugner of 
the Millennarian conceit was Jerome. 

" If," says he, " we understand the Revelation literally, 
we must judaize ; if spiritually, as it is written, we shall 
seem to contradict many of the ancients, particularly the 
Latins, Tertullian, Victorinus, Lactantius ; and the Greeks 

* Non quod ad cibuni vel ad potum pertinet sicut, Papia auc- 
torp, IrpDaeus, Tertullianus, et Lactantius acquiescunt, neque (per) 
mille annos post rosurrectionem rognuin Christi in terra futurum, 
et sanctos cum illo in deliciis rep^natiiros sperarnus, sicut Nepos 
edocuit. — Gennad. Eccl. Dogmat. c. 55. 

t Sod cuin cos qui tunc resurrexerint dicunt immoderatissimis 
carnalibus epulis vacaturos, in quibus cibus sit tantus et potus, ut 
non solum nullam modestiam teneant, sed modum quoque ipsius 
incredulitatis excedant, nullo mode ista possunt nisi de carnalibus, 
credi. — August. De Civ. Dec. L. 20. c. 7. 

X Prolegomena to the Canticles. 

§ Euseb. Hist. Eccles. L. 3. c. 39. 



THE MILLENNIUM. 17 

likewise, especially Irenaeus, bishop of Lyons, against 
whom Dionysius, bishop of the church of Alexandria, a 
man of uncommon eloquence, wrote a curious piece derid- 
ing the fable of a thousand years, and the terrestrial Jeru- 
salem adorned with gold and precious stones ; rebuilding 
the temple, bloody sacrifices, sabbatical rest, circumcision, 
marriages, lyings-in, nursing of children, dainty feasts, and 
servitude of the nations : and again after this, wars, armies, 
triumphs, and slaughters of conquered enemies, and the 
death of the sinner a hundred years old. Him Apollina- 
rius answered in two volumes, whom not only men of his 
own sect, but must of our own people likewise follow in 
this point. So it is no hard matter to foresee what a mul- 
titude of persons I am like to displease."* 

Of the Dionysius here mentioned Lardner says, " In the 
time of Dionysius's episcopate there were great numbers of 
Christians in the district of Arsinoe in Egypt, who were 
fond of the millennary notion, expecting a kingdom of 
Christ here on earth in which men should enjoy sensual 

* — et qua ratione intelligenda sit Apocalypsis Johannis, quam si 
juxta literain accipiinus, Judaizandmn est ; si spiritualiter, utscrip- 
ta est, disseriinus, nmltorum veteriun opinionibus contraire, Lati- 
norutn, Tertulliani, Victorini, Lactantii ; Graecoruni, ut caeteros 
praBtermittam, Irenfei tantum Lugdunensis episcopi faciam nien- 
tionein; adversus queai vir eloquentissimus Dionysius, Alexandri- 
nae ecclesiae pontifex, elegantem scribit librum, irridens mille an- 
norum fabulain ; et aureain atque gemtnalam in terris Jerusalem ; 
instaurationem templi ; Jiostiarum sanguinem ; otiuin Sabbati ; cir* 
curncisionis injuriarn, nuptias, partus, liberorum educationem, epu- 
larurn delicias, et cunctarum gentium servitateni : rui'sus bella, ex- 
ercitus, ac triumphos, et superatorum neces, mortemque centinarii 
peccatoris. Cui duobus voluminibus respondit Apollinarius, quetn 
nun solum suae sectae homines, sed et nostrorum in hac parte dun- 
taxat plurima sequitur multitudo ; ut praesaga mente jam cernam, 
quantoi-um in me rabies ooncitanda sit. — Hieron. in Es. I. 18. in 
Proem, pp. 477, 478. Ed. Bened. 

2* 



18 THE MILLENNIUM. 

pleasures. These persons were much confirmed in this 
opinion by a book of Nepos, an Egyptian bishop, entitled, 
A Confutation of the Allegorists. Dionysius had a dispu- 
tation or conference with those Christians, which he gave 
an account of in one of his books, written upon that sub- 
ject. In a fragment which we have in Eusebius, he writes 
to this purpose : ' When,' says he, * I was in the province 
of Arsinoe, where you know this opinion has for some time 
so far prevailed as to cause divisions and apostacies of whole 
churches, having called together the presbyters and teach- 
ers of the brethren in the villages, admitting likewise as 
many of the brethren as pleased to be present, I advised 
that this opinion should publicly be examined into. And 
when they produced to me that book as a shield and im- 
pregnable bulwark, I sat with them three whole days suc- 
cessively, from morning to evening, discussing the contents 
of it' He then goes on highly applauding the good order 
of the dispute, the moderation and candor of all present, 
their willingness to be convinced, and to retract their 
former opinions, if reason so required : * With a good con- 
science,' says he, ' and unfeignedly, aad with hearts open 
to the sight of God, embracing whatever could be made 
out by good arguments from the holy scriptures. In the 
end, Coracio, the chief defender of that opinion, engaged 
and promised, in the presence of all the brethren, that he 
would no longer maintain nor defend, nor teach, nor make 
mention of it, as being fully convinced by the arguments 
on the contrary side. And all the brethren who were 
present rejoiced for the conference, and their mutual re- 
conciliation and agreement.' "* 

In connexion with this we shall append, as a curious 
relic of antiquity, the judgment of this same Dionysius res- 
pecting the book of Revelation. After observing that 

* Lardner's Works, vol, ii. p. 691, 



THE MILLENNltTM. 19 

many had rejected the book as a forgery of Cerinthus, and 
consequently not entitled to a place in the sacred canon, 
he adds : " For this (they say) was one of his particular 
notions, that the kingdom of Christ should be earthly; 
consisting of those things which he himself, a carnal and 
sensual man, most admired, the pleasures of the belly, and 
of concupiscence ; that is, eating, and drinking, and mar- 
riage ; and for the more decent procurement of these, feast- 
ings, and sacrifices, and slaughters of victims. But, for 
my part, I dare not reject the book, since many of the 
brethren have it in high esteem : but allowing it to be 
above my understanding, I suppose it to contain through- 
out some latent and wonderful meaning; for though I do 
not understand it, I suspect there must be some profound 
sense in the words ; not measuring and judging these 
things by my own reason, but ascribing more to faith. I 
esteem them too sublime to be comprehended by me. Nor 
do I condemn what I have not been able to understand : 
but I admire the more, because they are above my reach."* 
This is probably a very correct account of the light in 
which the great mass of the Christian world at the present 
day view the disclosures (to them, mysteries) of this amaz- 
ing book, notwithstanding that the Holy Ghost, from a 
foresight of the disesteem into which it would be likely, in 
after ages, to fall, has, as a prophylactic guaranty against 
neglect, emblazoned in characters of light upon the very 
portals of this temple of prophecy the inscription, ' Blessed 
IS HE THAT READETH,' — a declaration equivalent to an as- 
terisk of heaven pointing to the vast importance and ines- 
timable value of this portion of the sacred oracles. This 
importance, as pertaining to the Apocalypse in itself con- 
sidered, good men, who venerate the word of God, are 
generally willing to concede, but this concession is in ef- 

* ibid. vol. ii. p. 693. 



20 THE ftllLLENNIUM. 

feet vacated by the secret prevailing belief that its contents 
are unintelligible. Alas ! 

<' Our doubts vire traitors, 
And make us lose the good we oft might win, 
By fearing to attempt." 

From the copious citations adduced above from the re- 
cords of ecclesiastical antiquity, it is clear that the Millen- 
narian hypothesis, in its literal and less refined features, 
did obtain an early prevalence in the church. As little, 
we think, is to be doubted, that the opinion owes its origin 
to a Jewish source. To what extent it actually prevailed 
among the primitive Christians, it is not possible, perhaps, 
from the conflicting testimonies of opposite schools, to de- 
termine with any degree of accuracy. The probability is, 
that during the first three centuries it was very extensively 
embraced. We recollect that Chillingworth prefers it as a 
very serious charge against the church of Rome, which 
lays such lofty claims to the perpetuation within her own 
bosom of the pure unadulterated doctrines of the apostolic 
and primitive ages, that in this matter, if in no other, she 
has grossly falsified the creed of antiquity, inasmuch as 
there is ample evidence that the doctrine of the chiliasts 
was actually the catholic faith of more than one century; 
and certainly there are few judges more competent to pro- 
nounce upon the fact. At the same time we do not regard 
the extent of its prevalence, or the period of its duration, 
as any measure of the abstract truth of the tenet. For our- 
selves we can easily conceive that, although the doctrine 
were really unsupported by Scripture, there were circum- 
stances in the case of the primitive believers which may 
have contributed powerfully to the spread and influence of 
Millennarianism among them. The early days of the 
church, it is well known, were the days of persecution. 
The first converts to Christianity were ' compassed about 



THE MILLENNIUM. 21 

by a great fight of afflictions.' The espousal of the reli- 
gion of the cross, which waged an exterminating war 
against the standing superstitions of the empire, exposed 
them, as a matter of course, to all the terrors of popular 
frenzy and of imperial indignation. Being for the most 
part men of uncultivated minds, but of ardent zeal, une- 
qual to the task of a sublimated conception of the spiritual 
mysteries of revelation, but laying firm hold of its literal 
and palpable representations, and deeply imbued with its 
divine spirit, the grosser forms of prophetic truth were pre- 
cisely such as they would naturally be most prone to im- 
bibe, and such too as were best suited to their exigencies. 
Even though we suppose their views erroneous, yet the er- 
ror was in itself an innocent one, and with the fires of mar- 
tyrdom kindling around them, and every species of torture 
devised to aggravate their sufferings, what could buoy up 
the spirits of such a class of men in the hour of mortal 
agony, but the promises and prospects of a glorious reward, 
such as their rude and simple but honest minds saw dis- 
closed in the letter of their Scriptures ? And is it any dis- 
paragement to the wisdom of the Most High that he should 
so have framed the word of truth that certain portions of it 
might be susceptible of an interpretation which, though 
natural, was not necessary, though fallacious, was yet fea- 
sible, and adapted to minister at particular seasons and 
under peculiar circumstances, the most solid support and 
consolation to its disciples ? For ourselves we have no 
difficulty in supposing that the Millennarian error was in a 
peculiar manner winked at in the early ages of Christiani- 
ty, and that the belief of it was calculated to produce and 
did produce results of a most auspicious character, which 
under the circumstances a different and even a more cor- 
rect construction of the sacred oracles would have failed to 
effect. 

On the same principle, in all probability, we may ac- 



22 THE MILLENNIUM. 

count for the general prevalence at that early period of the 
sentiment respecting the speedy dissolution of the world 
and the consummation of all things. " In the primitive 
church," says Gibbon, " the influence of truth was very 
powerfully strengthened by an opinion, which, however it 
may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity, has 
not been found agreeable to experience. It was universally 
believed that the end of the world, and the kingdom of 
heaven, were at hand. Tlie near approach of this won- 
derful erent had been predicted by the apostles ; the tra- 
dition of it was preserved by their earliest disciples, and 
those who understood in their literal sense the discourses 
of Christ himself, were obliged to expect the second and 
glorious coming of the Son of man in the clouds, before 
that generation was totally extinguished, which had beheld 
his humble condition, and which might still be witness of 
the calamities of the Jews under Vespasian or Hadrian. 
The revolution of seventeen centuries has instructed us not 
to press too closely the mysterious language of prophecy 
and revelation ; hut. ns long as, for taine jjurjmscs, this er- 
ror was permitted to subsist in the church it ivas irroduc- 
tivc of the most salutary effects on the faith and practice of 
Christians, who lived in the awful expectation of that mo- 
ment when the globe itself, and all the various race of 
mankind, should tremble at the appearance of their divine 
Judge."* Can it be doubted that the language of the sa- 
cred writers is so constructed, as that it should, before the 
event proved the contrary, tend to countenance and cher- 
ish the belief here stated ? When we hear the apostles 
saying, * The end of all things is at hand ' — * we which are 
alive and remain shall be caught up to meet the Lord in 
the air ' — ' lo, I come quickly ' — ' the time is at hand ' — 
* things which must shortly come to pass ' — it is obvious 

■^ Decl. and Full, p. 185. Ed. in one vol. 



THE MILLENNIU31. 23 

that such expressions, to say nothing of our Lord's predic- 
tion of the destruction of Jerusalem, which might be 
thought to include the destruction of the world, are capable 
of beinor construed in a sense to warrant the most sang-uine 
expectations that were built upon them. And who shall 
say that this end might not have been expressly designed 
under God to be answered by the peculiar phraseology in 
which the announcements were couched 1 For aught we 
know, in fact, the apostles themselves might have been of 
the prevailing belief, as we have met with no reasoning 
which convinces us that they always understood the full 
reach and import of their own writings. 

It may, however, be objected, that it is not altogether 
consistent to attribute to the primitive Christians the be- 
lief in the speedy catastrophe of the world, when at the 
same time their Millennarian notions required them to 
hold that six thousand years must first elapse before that 
blissful period would dawn upon the earth. But the truth 
is, that, owing to a radical error in their chronological cal- 
culus, they conceived themselves as actually having ar- 
rived at the eve of the world's seventh Millennary, or, in 
other words, as having their lot cast on the Saturday of 
the great antypical Week of the creation. " The primi- 
tive church of Antioch," says the historian above cited, 
" computed almost 6000 years from the creation of the 
world to the birth of Christ. Africraius, Lactantius and 
the Greek church, have reduced that number to 5,500, 
and Eusebius has contented himself with 5,200 years. 
These calculations were formed on the Septuagint, which 
was universally received during the first six centuries."* 

Before leaving the subject of ancient testimonies, the 
reader will tolerate another extract from the History of the 
Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, couched in the 

* Decl. and Fall, p. 185. 



24 THE MILLENNIUM. 

usual flowing and eloquent vein of the author. " The an- 
cient and popular doctrine of the Millennium was in- 
timately connected with the second coming of Christ. 
As the works of the creation had been finished in six days, 
their duration in their present state, according to a tradi- 
tion which was attributed to the prophet Elijah, was fixed 
to six thousand years. By the same analogy it was infer- 
red, that this long period of labor and contention, which 
was now almost elapsed, would be succeeded by a joyful 
sabbath of a thousand years ; and that Christ, with the 
triumphant band of the saints and the elect who had es- 
caped death, or who had been miraculously revived, would 
reign upon the earth till the time appointed for the last 
and general resurrection. So pleasing was this hope to 
the mind of believers, that the Neiv Jerusalem, the seat of 
this blissful kingdom, was quickly adorned with all the gay- 
est colors of the imagination. A felicity consisting only 
of pure and spiritual pleasure would have appeared too re- 
fined for its inhabitants, who were still supposed to possess 
their human nature and senses. A garden of Eden, with 
the amusements of the pastoral life, was no longer suited 
to the advanced state of society which prevailed under the 
Roman empire. A city was therefore erected of gold 
and precious stones, and a supernatural plenty of corn and 
wine was bestowed on tlie adjacent territory ; in the free 
enjoyment of whose spontaneous productions, the happy 
and benevolent people was never to be restrained by any 
jealous laws of exclusive property. The assurance of 
such a Millennium was carefully inculcated by a succes- 
sion of fathers from Justin Martyr and Irenaeus, who con- 
versed with the immediate disciples of the apostles, down 
to Lactantius, who was preceptor to the son of Constan- 
tine. Though it might not be universally received, it ap- 
pears to have been the reigning sentiment of the ortho- 
dox believers ; and it seems so well adapted to the desires 



THE MILLENNIUM. 25 

and apprehensions of mankind, that it must have contri- 
buted in a very essential degree to the progress of the 
Christian faith. But when the edifice of the church was 
ahnost completed, the temporary support was laid aside. 
The doctrine of Christ's reign upon earth was at first 
treated as a profound allegory, was considered by degrees 
as a doubtful and useless opinion, and was at length re- 
jected as the absurd invention of heresy and fanaticism."* 

* Decl. and Fall, d. 185. 186. 



26 



THE MILLENNIUM. 



CHAPTER 11. 

MODERN OPINIONS RESPECTING THE APOCALYPTIC 
MILLENNIUM. 

The Millennarian hypothesis, as it respects the patron- 
age which it has at different periods received, has been re- 
markable for a series of waxings and wanings. During 
the first ages of the church, when the style of Christianity 
was * to believe, to love, and to suffer,' this sentiment 
seems to have obtained a prevalence so general as to be 
properly entitled all but absolutely catholic. After the 
lapse of the three first centuries, a gradual change was 
wrought in public opinion in regard to this doctrine ; a 
change effected by the combined influence of secular pros- 
perity in the church, and of the controversial opposition 
of great names against the tenet itself Origen, Augus- 
tine, and Jerome successively arrayed themselves against 
a Judaizing dogma discountenanced, as they supposed, at 
once by the spiritual genius of Christianity, and by a fair 
and rational interpretation of its letter. Their influence, 
it cannot be doubted, contributed powerfully to weaken 
the hold which Millennarianism had upon the minds of 
their contemporaries, and to pave the way for its general 
abandonment. Add to this that the more favored and 
felicitous condition of the church under Constantine 
and his successors for one or two centuries, tended nat- 
urally to wean the thoughts of the pious from the an- 
ticipation of future to the meditation of present blessed- 
ness, in which it is not unlikely that some beheld an actu- 
al fulfilment of the promised rest, peace and joy of the 
world's expected Sabbatism. During the invasions of the 
northern nations and the deluae of disasters which then 



THE MILLENNIUM. 27 

flowed in upon the empire, speculation was overborne, 
and the minds of Christians were absorbed by the commo- 
tions of the times and the evils endured by them or im- 
pending over them. Little attention, therefore, was paid 
to the themes of the Apocalypse, and the conceptions they 
had formed of prophetic scripture, if they had formed any, 
became confused and obscure ; they waited for light, but 
darkness continued to surround them. 

Through the dreary tract of the ages of darkness scarce- 
ly a vestige of Millennarian sentiments is to be traced, but 
the dormancy of the doctrine was interrupted, by the rous- 
ing events, the moral earthquake of the Reformation. 
The Anabaptists in Germany, and, some time after, the 
Fifth Monarchy men in England carried their notions to 
the extreme of infatuation, and created a destructive fer- 
ment around them. At length the ebullition of enthusi- 
asm subsided, and the fiery zeal of mistaken men died 
away. Since that time till within a very few years the 
Millennarian cause has excited little interest and occasion- 
ed little disturbance. The writings of Mede in the seven- 
teenth century revived indeed in a measure the ancient 
doctrine, and individual writers have at one time and an- 
other between that time and the present sent forth their 
speculations, advocating substantially the same views. 
Within the period, however, of five or six years, the sub- 
ject has acquired anew a considerable degree of promi- 
nence, and given rise, particularly in England, to an ani- 
mated controversy, which is yet dividing the ranks of bib- 
lists and theologians. The letter-men and the allegorists 
of the three first centuries are revived in the liter alists and 
the spiritualists of the present day. 

The sentiments of those in modern times who may be 
ranked under these two heads may be gathered with suffi- 
cient distinctness from the ensuing series of extracts from 
their principal writers. 



28 THE MILLENNIUM. 

1. Those who hold to the personal reign of Christ on 
earth during the thousand years. 

Of this class the venerable Joseph Mede, one of the pro- 
foundest Biblical scholars of the English church, of whom 
it was said that in the explication of the mysterious pas- 
sages of scripture, ' he discerned the day before others 
had opened their eyes,' may be considered in modern times 
the father. He was distinguished for the diffidence, mod- 
esty and caution with which he broached his opinions on 
these recondite subjects. As to the character of the ex- 
pected Millennial kingdom of Christ, the following is his 
unpresuming language : — 

"What the quality of this reign should be, which is so 
singularly differenced from the reign of Ciirist hitherto, is 
neither easy nor safe to determine, further than that it should 
be the reign of our Saviour's victory over his eneuiies, where- 
in Satan being bound up from deceiving the nations any 
more, till the time of his reign l)e fulfilled, the Church should 
consequently enjoy a most blissful peace and happy secu- 
rity from the heretical apostacies and calamitous sufferings 
of former times ; but here (if any where) the known ship- 
wrecks of those who have been too venturous should make 
us most wary and careful, that we admit nothing into our 
imaginations which njay cross or impeach any catholic tenet 
of the Christian faith, as also to beware of gross and carnal 
conceits of Epicurean happiness, misbeseeming the spiritual 
purity of saints. If we conceit any delights, let them be 
spiritual. The presence of Christ in this kingdom will no 
doubt be glorious and evident, yet 1 dare not so much as 
imagine (which some ancients seem to have thought) that 
it should be a visible converse on earth. Yet we grant, he 
will appear and be visil)ly revealed from heaven ; especially 
for the calling and gathering of his ancient people, for whom 
in the days of old he did so many wonders." — Mode's Works, 
Book iii. Rem. ch. xii. p. 603. 

The subsequent testimony of the excellent Joseph 
Caryll, author of a Commentary on Job, is prefixed to a 



THE MILLENNIUM. 29 

work published by Nathaniel Holmes, D. D. during the 
period of the English Commonwealth : 

" That all the saints shall reign with Christ a thousand 
years on earth, in a wonderful, both spiritual and visible, glo- 
rious manner before the time of the ultimate and general 
resurrection, is a position which, though not a few have hes- 
itated about and some opposed, yet has gained ground in the 
hearts and judgments of very many both brave and godly 
men, who have left us divers essays and discourses upon this 
subject. And having perused the learned and laborious tra- 
vails of this author, I conceive that the church of God hath 
not hitherto seen this great point so clearly stated, so largely 
discussed, so strongly confirmed, not only by the testimony 
of ancient and modern writers of all sorts, but by the Holy 
Scriptures throughout, as it is presented in this book. Where- 
in also divers other considerable points are collaterally han- 
dled, all tending to set forth the catastrophe and result of all 
the troubles and hopes of such as fear God, as the preface to 
their eternal bliss. And whereas some have been and still 
are apt to abuse this doctrine by making it an occasion to 
the flesh, and of heating themselves in the expectation of a 
carnal liberty and a worldly glory, I find that this author 
hath cautiously forelaid and prevented all such abuses, by 
showing the exceeding spiritualness and holiness of this 
state, to which as none but the truly holy shall attain, or 
having attained it, they shall walk in the height of holiness. 
And therefore I judge this book very useful for the saints 
and worthy of the public view." — Congreg. Magaz. JVetv 
Series, vol. v. p. 39. 

Approaching nearer to our own times, Dr. Gill stands 
forth conspicuousl}' among his contemporaries as a distin- 
guished advocate of Millennarianism. 

" There will be a personal and glorious appearance of the 
Son of God, 'the Lord himself shall descend' (1 Thess. 4: 16,) 
not by his Spirit or the conununication of his grace, or by 
his gracious presence as before ; but in person he will de- 
scend from the third heaven, where he is in our nature, in- 
to the air where he will be visible ; every eye shall see him 
when he cometh with clouds, or in the clouds of heaven, 
which will be his chariot ; he will descend on earth at the 
3* 



30 THE MILLENNIUM. 

proper time ; and his feet shall stand upon the Mount of 
Olives ; on that spot of ground from whence he ascended to 
heaven. Job seems to have tliis descent of his in view when 
he says, ' He shall stand at the latter day upon the earth ;' 
which seems to respect not so much his first coming as his 
second, since it is connected with the resurrection of the 
dead. There will be (also) a resurrection of the bodies of 
the saints ; the dead in Christ, who died in union with him, 
believers in him, and partakers of his grace shall rise first : 
they will have the dominion over the wicked in the morning 
of the resurrection, who will not rise until the end of that 
day ; there will be a thousand years distance between the 
resurrection of the one and that of the other ; hence the res- 
urrection of the just as that is named in distinction from that 
of the unjust, is called the first resurrection, Rev. 20: 5, 6." 

After mentioning the change of living saints, their be- 
ing caught up to meet the Lord in the air, and the confla- 
gration of the material heavens and earth, he proceeds: 

" Then there will succeed new heavens and a new earth, 
which God has promised, and which the apostle Peter says, 
saints look for according to his promise ; and of which the 
apostle John had a vision. To this new earth Christ will 
descend, and he will dwell in it here ; the tabernacle of God 
will be with men, and lie shall dwell with them ; this shall 
be the seat of Christ's personal reign ; here he will reign 
before his ancients gloriously ; here he will have his palace 
and keep his court, and display his glory and the greatness 
of his majesty ; and here his people will dwell with him, 
who will now be all righteous, perfectly so, even righteous- 
ness itself; for in these new heavens and new earth will 
dwell righteousness; nothing shall enter into this glorious 
New Jerusalem-state that worketh abomination or maketh a 
lie ; it will be a perfectly holy city, consisting wholly of holy 
persons ; wherefore blessed and holy is he that hath part in 
the first resurrection : nor will there be any enemy to annoy 
the saints in this state ; tlie wicked will be all burnt and de- 
stroyed at the general conflagration ; the beast and tlie false 
prophet, before this, will be cast alive into the lake of fire 
burning with brimstone ; Satan will be bound by Christ, and 
cast into the bottomless pit, where lie will remain till the 
thousand yeai'S are fulfilled : for so long will this state con- 



THE MILLENNIUM. 31 

tinue ; so long will Satan be bound ; so long the saints will 
live and reign with Christ ; this will be the day of the Lord, 
which is a thousand years and which thousand years, will be 
as one day. At the close of these years Satan will be loosed 
again, and the wicked dead will be raised ; which, with the 
whole posse of devils, will make the Gog and Magog army, 
who shall be in the four quarters of the world, and go up on 
the breadth of the earth ; and whose number shall be as the 
sand of the sea, being all the wicked that have been from 
the beginning of the world ; a large army indeed, such a one 
as never was before, consisting of enraged devils, and of men 
raised with all that malice and wickedness they died in, with 
Satan at the head of them ; by whom they will be animated 
to make this last feeble and foolish effort for their recovery 
and liberty ; in order to which they will compass the camp 
of the saints about, and the beloved city ; who will be in no 
manner of pain and uneasiness at the appearance of this 
seeming formidable army; being clothed with immortality, 
secured by the power of God, and Christ being in person 
with them ; then fire shall come down from heaven and de- 
vour the wicked ; the wrath of God shall seize, distress, and 
terrify them ; divert them from their purpose, and throw 
them into the utmost consternation and confusion ; and then 
they shall be dragged to the tribunal of Chiist and stand be- 
fore him, small and great, and be judged according to their 
works, and cast into the lake of fire, where they will be in 
company with the devil, the beast, and false prophet, and be 
tormented with them for ever and ever." — Criirs Sermon on the 
Glo)ij of the Church of the Latter day preached Lond., Dec. 27,] 752. 

" It will be gathered from the foregoing statements, that I 
expect the personal and visible kingdom of Christ to rise out 
of the desolation and ruin of the fourth monarchy in the last 
days of its divided state ; that I believe no fifth dominant sov- 
ereignty similar to the four monarchies of Assyria, Persia, 
Greece, and Rome, will ever be established upon earth ; but 
that the power of Christ, when it smites to shivers the last of 
these monarchies in its divided state, will establish upon 
their subverted tin-ones the everlasting throne of his grace 
and mediatorial strength ; that I believe this throne will ad- 
mit the subordination of other human sovereignties, and cor- 
roborate and support the blessings of civil government and 
concord through the world : that the glorified saints of the 



32 THE MILLENNIUM. 

'first resuiTection ' will be associated with Christ in the di- 
rection and consolidation of this peaceful empire ; and that 
the world will thus exhibit a gladdening spectacle of a vast 
popidalion of men still indeed mortal and subject to occa- 
sional ill, but peaceful, generous, disinterested, living in con- 
cord, and heartfelt union ; a union social, domestic and po- 
litical ; attributing all their blessings to the grace and power 
of Christ, and recognizing his will and love alike in the exer- 
cise of power, and in the submission of obedience ; and that 
the higher management and control of this world will be in 
the hands first of Christ himself, and under him in the hands 
of men — of men once like the mortal sojourners they govern, 
but now glorified like their Lord, and living amidst their 
mortal kindred as benefactors, princes, and kings. It is not 
needful to suppose their presence to be always apparent to 
their happy subjects ; but still their visible manifestations to 
be sufiiciently frecpient to sustain the mutual allegiance and 
concord of mankind, to cheer the intercourse of life, and to 
perpetuate an abiding recognition of their intense benevo- 
lence and their sovereign authority." — J\''oeCs Brief Enquiry, 
p. 154. 

"The events of the history are these : — The tAvo forms of 
Antichrist, the beast and the false prophet, being taken alive 
and cast into the lake of fire, and tlie kings of the earth con- 
federate under their banners, being slain ; the devil, prime 
mover of the earth's wickedness and misery, is restrained in 
chains within the bottomless pit, and straightway the first 
resurrection ensueth, and Christ with his rising saints takes 
the reins of the government of the earth. The earth, thus 
delivered from tlie headship of Satan and wicked men, re- 
joiceth in great blessedness, under the headship of Christ 
and righteous men raised from the dead. And thus things 
shall stand constituted for the period of the thousand years ; 
— whether literal years we say not, nor doth it at all concern 
us, but certainly a limited time, however short or long, and 
certainly not shorter than a thousand literal years. At the 
end of which finite time, the v/ickedness of men hai)ly in- 
creasing, and the grace of God being accorajjlished, Satan 
shall be loosed, and men in this bitter condition shall be 
tried ; and it shall appear that except the Jewish people who 
ai*e under a covenant of their own (Ezek. xvi.), all the na- 
tions, envious haply of that distinction, and disobedient to 



THE MILLENNIUM. 33 

their supremacy, shall giv^e way, and come up in proud revolt 
to try their might against the people of God's covenant, and 
against his holy city, which hath its seat within these bounds. 
This last confederacy of evil is written in the language of 
Ezekiel's vision of Gog and Magog (chaps, xxxviii, and xxxix,) 
and will find its best illustrations from that confederacy of 
the nations against Israel settled in their own land, before 
the Millennium commenceth. Then it is that God shall inter- 
fere and show his mighty power in Christ, who shall con- 
sume them with fire out of heaven." — Rev. E. Irving^s Led. 
on the Rev., vol. i. pp. 80, 81. Lond. 1831. 

" I believe that the dispersed of Israel, having been gath- 
ered into one, and nationally restored to the land of their 
fathers ; that the secular empire of Rome, exhibited at pres- 
ent in its divided form of the various principalities of Eu- 
rope, having been revolutionized and desolated ; that the 
Turkish empire having undergone a similar fate ; that the 
ecclesiastical dominion of popery having been thrown down 
with a violent hand, as when the angel plunged the mill- 
stone into the sea ; that all earth-born power whatsoever 
having been abolished throughout the world ; and that Satan 
having been expelled from the government which he has 
usurped so extensively — then shall the Lord Jesus Christ, 
revealed from heaven in his glorified humanity, himself as- 
sume the power, and reign on earth as universal king : at 
which time he shall to a considerable extent restore this 
globe to its primitive order, beauty, and fertility ; give the 
saints who are dead a resurrection from the grave ; trans- 
form them who are alive ; liken them in glory to his glori- 
fied self; and assemble them in the New Jerusalem, where 
they shall dwell and reign with Ilim. That this reign of 
righteousness and peace shall continue for at least one thou- 
sand solar years, after v/hich Satan shall be loosed again, 
and prevail to the seduction of many, till the defection have 
reached such a height, that the rebels shall make an attempt 
on the sanctity of the New Jerusalem, when signal ven- 
geance shall miraculously overtake them. That then shall 
the trumpet blow its dreadful blast to the Second Resurrec- 
tion, when all the dead wicked shall also be raised, and 
judged, and consigned over to the second death. That this 
being transacted, the Son shall deliver up the kingdom to 
the Father, having completed his mediatorial work. What 



34 THE MILLENNIUM. 

shall succeed this I know not p«irticiilarly, further than that 
I do not believe that the eaith shall be annihilated, but that 
rectified and beautified it shall last forever, as the happy 
abode of the saints." — AndersorCs Apol, for Milhn. Doctrine, 
part i. p. 1, 2. Glasg. 1880. 

That the sentiments of modern millennarians are, in 
their leading features, but the revival of the ancient doc- 
trine as held by Justin Martyr, Irenseus, and Lactantius, is 
rendered indubitable, we think, by the foregoing extracts. 
And if, as we have endeavored to show, the doctrine of the 
fathers was merely a transplantation of the Jewish tenet 
into the Christian church, it follows that the modern hy- 
pothesis can claim for itself no other origin. We are 
aware indeed that there are two passages of scripture which 
are pressed into the service of this theory, and upon which 
great reliance is placed as containing all but a positive de- 
monstration of its truth. The first is Ps. 90: 4, ' For a thou- 
sand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, 
and as a watch in the night.' The second, which is supposed 
to be a quotation of the former, occurs 2 Pet. 3: 8. " Be- 
loved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day 
is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years 
as one day." How this language is understood in con- 
nection with the millennarian notion will appear from the 
following comment, although the author does not in other 
points agree with that school. 

" He says, ' Be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day 
is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years 
as one day.' By this expression, Hhis one thing^ he plainly 
shows that it is not used as a general expression ; for in 
that way it is as true, and might as well be said, that one day 
is with the Lord as a million of years. To show that he 
used the expression in a very particular sense, the apostle 
repeats it, ' that a thousand years are as one day.' It is highly 
probable, that it is in reference to some such division of time 
as the ages of the world into seven millennaries, and the 
seventh of these a sabbatism, that six days were spent in the 



THE MILLENNIUM. 35 

creation of the world, and that the seventh was sanctified for 
a sabbath. The Ahnighty Creator could have made the 
world in a moment, as easily as in six days ; and for any- 
thing which we know, another day or another proportion of 
time might have been as fit for a sabbath as the seventh." — 
Johnston on the Revelation, vol. ii. p. 326. 

Mede speaks to the same effect. After giving the follow- 
ing as a correct paraphrase of the words : 

" But whereas I mentioned the day of judgment, lest ye 
might mistake it for a short day, or a day of few hours, I 
would not, beloved, have you ignorant, that one day is with 
the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one 
day " — he observes : — " Thus I expound these words by way 
of a preoccupation or premunition; because they are the for- 
mal words of the Jewish doctors when they speak of the day 
of judgment or day of Christ, as St. Peter here doth ; viz. 
' Una dies Dei Sancti Benedecti sunt mille anni ' — ' A thousand 
years are one day of the Holy Blessed God.'' And though they 
use to quote that of the ninetieth Psalm, {'■Mille anni in oculis 
tuis sicut dies hesternus ' — ^A thousand years in thy sight are as 
yesterday,'') for confirmation thereof, yet are not those words 
formally in the Psalm. So that St. Peter in this passage seems 
rather to have had respect to that common saying of the 
Jews in this argument, than to the words of the Psalm, 
where the words, ' One day with the Lord is as a thousand 
years,' are not, though the latter part of the sentence, ' a 
thousand years as one day,' may allude thither as the Jews 
also were wont to bring it for a confirmation of the former. 
2. These words are commonly taken as an argument why 
God should not be thought ' sh\ck in his promise ' (which 
follows in the next verse) ; but the first fathers took it other- 
wise ; and besides it proves it not. For the question is not, 
whether the time be long or short in respect of God, but 
whether it be long or short in respect of us ; otherwise not 
only a thousand but an hundred thousand years are in the 
eyes of God no more than one day is to us, and so it would 
not seem long to God if the day of judgment should be de- 
ferred till then." — Mede's Works, Book iii. p. Gil. 

Of the interpretation of this passage given by the writers 
now cited it may be said, that the allusion to the tradition- 



36 THE MILLENNIUM. 

ary hebdomadal division of time, if it do exist in the words, 
is so extremely covert that it will ever be liable to be ques- 
tioned or denied. The evidence by which such an inter- 
pretation is to be demonstratively shown to be the true one 
is and always must be wanting. One man may be firm in 
the belief that such is indeed the very drift of the apostle's 
words, but as he can bring no argument but the conviction 
of his own mind or that of other men, to affect the credence 
of another, he ought not to deem it surprising if he does 
not succeed in gaining his assent to an opinion which can- 
not be proved to be true. All that can be said of it is, that 
while on the one hand it cannot be shown to be true, on 
the other it cannot be proved to be false. 

But even admitting the justness of the millennarian con- 
struction of this passage, it still leaves the main point as 
unsettled as before ; viz. the identity of the seventh millen- 
nary of the world with the millennium of John in the Apoc- 
alypse. This is a point which all the writers of the millen- 
narian school have uniformly taken for granted without 
requiring or advancing the least shadow of proof. In this 
respect therefore the whole theory labors under a radical, 
and we fear a fatal, defect of evidence. But we proceed 
to state the opinions — 

II. Of those who deny the personal, hut maintain the 
spiritual, reign of Christ on earth, for the period of a 
thousand years. 

Chiliasts, or Millennarians, is a name which, from an 
early period, has been bestowed upon such as have been 
looking for a seventh millennium, in which our Lord Jesus 
Christ should personally appear and reign with his people 
on earth. But others also, not so denominated, have ex- 
pected, and do expect, a spiritual reign on earth for a 
thousand years. This class embraces a large majority of 
the Christian world at the present day. They agree with 
the former for the most part in regard to the time of the 



THE' MILLENNIUM. 37 

Millennium, but differ essentially in their views of its char- 
acter. They declare themselves with equal confidence as 
to the fact of this happy period being yet future. " No- 
thing," says Bishop Newton, " is more evident than that this 
prophecy of the Millennium and of the first resurrection 
hath not yet been fulfilled, even though the resurrection be 
taken in a figurative sense." Dr. Bogue expresses him- 
self thus : — " Why spend a moment to prove that the mil- 
lennium does not now exist, and from the representation, 
which has been given of the past periods of the church, has 
not yet commenced its joyful course ? Prophecy confirms 
this reasoning, for it describes the Millennium as reserved 
for the last days (quere, where ?) to form the graceful close 
of the divine dispensations to the kingdom of the Re- 
deemer." As far therefore as the Millennarians in fixing 
upon the seventh chiliad as the sabbatism of the world, 
are, as Jerome terms them, the ' heirs of a Jewish tradi- 
tion," the advocates of the other opinion are entitled to a 
share in the Rabbinical legacy. For ourselves, we deem 
them both, in this respect, to be equally in error ; but be- 
fore attempting to prove them so, we shall lay before the 
reader some fair specimens of their opinions. 

The first is that of Whitby. 

" Having thus given you a just account of the Millennium 
of the ancients, and of the true extent of that opinion in the 
primitive ages of the church ; I proceed now to show in what 
things I agree wiih the assertors of that doctrine, and how 
far I find myself constrained, by the force of truth, to differ 
from them. 

I believe, then, that after the fall of Antichrist there shall 
be such a glorious state of the church, by the conversion of 
the Jews to the Christian faith, as shall be to it life from the 
dead ; that it shall then flourish in peace and plenty, in right- 
eousness and holiness, and in a pious offspring ; that tlien 
shall begin a glorious and undisturbed reign of Christ over 
both Jew and Gentile, to continue a thousand years during 
the time of Satan's binding ; and that as John the Baptist 
4 



38 THE MILLENNIUM. 

was Elias, because he came in the spirit and power of Elias ; 
so shall this be the church of mart^^'s, and of those who had 
not received the mark of the Beast, because of their entire 
freedom from all the doctrines and practices of the antichris- 
tinn church, and because the spirit and purity of the times of 
the primitive martyrs shall return. And therefore, 

1. I agree with the patrons of the Millennium in this, That 
I believe Satan hath not yet been bound a thousand years, 
nor will he be so bound till the time of the calling of the 
Jews, and the time of St. John's Millennium. 

2. I agree with them in this, That the true Millennium 
will not begin till the fall of Antichrist ; nor will the .Tews 
be converted, the idolatry of the Roman church being one 
great obstacle of their conversion. 

3. 1 agree both with the modern and the ancient Millen- 
naries. That there shall be great peace and plenty, and great 
measures of knowledge and of righteousness in the whole 
church of God. 

I therefore only differ from the ancient Millennaries in 
three things : 

1. In denying Christ's personal reign upon earth during 
this thousand years ; and in this both Dr. Burnet and Mr. 
Mede expressly have renounced their doctrine.* 

2. Though I dare not absolutely deny what they all posi- 
tively affirm, that the city of Jerusalem shall be then rebuilt, 
and the converted Jews shall return to it, because this proba- 
bly may be collected from those words of Christ, ' Jerusalem 
shall be trodden down till the time of the Gentiles is come,' 
Luke 21: 24, and all the prophets seem to declare the Jews 
shall then return to their own land, Jcr. 31: 38-40, yet do I 
confidently deny what Barnabas and others of them do con- 
tend for, viz. that the temple of Jerusalem shall be then built 
again ; for this is contrary not only to the plain declaration 
of St. John, who saith, 'I saw no temple in this New Jeru- 
salem,' Rev. 21: 22, whence I infer there is to be no temple 
in any part of it ; but to the whole design of the epistle to 
the Hebrews which is to show the dissolution of the temple 
service, for the weakness and unprofitableness of it ; (and) 
that the Jewish tabernacle was only a figure of the true and 
' more perfect tabernacle which the Lord pitched, and not 



* This may be questioned. These writers have modified the 
creed of the ancients on this subject, without renouncing it. 



THE MILLENNIUM. ^y 

man ;' the Jewish sanctuary only a worldly sanctuary, a pat- 
tern and a figure of the heavenly one into Avhich Christ our 
high priest is entered, Heb. 8: 2. 9: 2. 11: 23, 24. Now such 
a temple, such a sanctuary, and such service, cannot be suita- 
ble to the most glorious and splendid times of the Christian 
church ; and therefore the apostle saith, ' The Lord God om- 
nipotent, and the Lamb, shall be their temple.' 

3. 1 differ both from the ancient and the modern Millen- 
naries, as far as they assert that this shall be a reign of such 
Christians as have suffered under the heathen persecutors ; 
or by the rage of Antichrist ; (1) making it only a reign of 
the converted Jews and of the Gentiles tlien flowing into 
them, and uniting into one church with them. This I be- 
lieve to be indeed the truth of this mistaken doctrine." — 
Whithy^s Treatise on the True Millennium, pp. 9, 10. 

Thus speaks Dr. Bogue. 

" Having noticed these erroneous views of ^;he doctrine, 
allow me to mention, in a few words, what I conceive to be 
the Millennium of the Christian church, — which God has 
graciously revealed by his servants the Prophets. It appears, 
then, that there will be far more eminent measures of divine 
knowledge ; of holiness of heart and life ; and of spiritual 
consolation and joy, in the souls of the disciples of Christ, 
than the world has yet seen : and these will not be the at- 
tainments of a few Christians, but of the general mass. This 
delightful internal state of the Church will be accompanied 
with such a portion of external pros})erity and peace, and 
abundance of all temporal blessings, as men never knew be- 
fore. The boundaries of the kingdom of Christ will be ex- 
tended from the rising to the going down of the sun ; and 
Antichristianism, Deism, Mohammedanism, Paganism, and 
Judaism, shall all be destroyed and give place to the Re- 
deejner's throne. By the preaching of the Gospel, the read- 
ing of tJie Bible, and the zeal of Christians in every station ; 
by tJie judgments of heaven on the children of men for their 
iniquities ; above all, by the mighty efficacy of the Holy 
Ghost, will the glory of the latter days be brought about. 
Religion will then be the grand business of mankind. The 
generality will be truly pious ; and those who are not will 
be inconsiderable in number, and most probably be anxious 
to conceal their real character ; and their sentiments and 



40 THE MILLENNIUM. 

practice have no real weight or influence on the public mind. 
The earnest desire which every pious soul must feel for the 
long continuance of tliis glory, will be gratified to hear, that 
the time mentioned in prophetic language, as the period of 
its duration, is a thousand years. Such I believe to be the 
doctrine of the Millennium." — Bogne's Disc on the Millen. 
p. 18. 

" By the Millennium, I do not understand such a state as 
accords to any of the many superstitious and enthusiastic de- 
scriptions of the renovation of the earth after the general 
conflagration, of the first resurrection of the bodies of the 
saints to live again for a thousand years upon that renovated 
earth, and of the personal reign of Christ for a thousand 
years on earth ; which have been published to the world 
even by men of considerable note. These conjectures I re- 
ject, because there is no foundation for them in scripture ; 
and they are highly unreasonable and improbable in them- 
selves, so far as we are capable of judging on such a subject. 
But by the Millennium I understand a triumphant state of 
the kingdom of God or true religion of Jesus on earth for a 
thousand years. This kingdom of God is righteousness, 
truth, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. This kingdom, con- 
sisting of these four constituent parts, shall be in a trium- 
phant state during the whole Millennium. Then mankind 
shall in a veiy high degree be freed from ignorance and er- 
ror ; shall love, study, and know the truth on every subject 
in which they have any concern, and especially on the sub- 
ject of religion. Universal rigliteousness siiall prevail. They 
shall pay that regard to the j)erfect and meritorious righteous- 
ness of Christ, whicli accords to truth, to the perfection of 
the divine law, to the infinitude of divine justice, to its own 
perfection, to their need of it, and to the gracious purpose of 
God in sending Christ into this world to fulfil all righteous- 
ness. They shall love and practice righteousness to God, 
to their brethren of mankiud, to all the creatures of God 
with whom they have intercourse, and to themselves, in all 
its branches : and they shall make perpetual progress in 
truth and righteousness. Universal peace shall prevail on 
the earth. Men, as individuals, shall enjoy peace with God, 
and peace of conscience ; as connected in society, they shall 
live in peace with their neighbors, whether in smaller or 
larger societies. Private quarrels and public wars shall 



THE MILLENNIUM. 41 

cease to the ends of the earth. The brute creation, treated 
with gentleness by men, shall become much more gentle and 
harmless to them and to one another than they are now. 
Universal joy shall abound. That joy which is pure and ex- 
alted happiness, that joy which is congenial to a mind re- 
newed and sanctified by the Holy Ghost. Not only shall all 
public affairs be conducted with prosperity and joy, but indi- 
viduals also shall be happy. They shall be blessed with 
that joy, which is inseparable from high attainments in truth, 
righteousness and peace. Such, in a certain degree, shall 
be the situation of the whole world during these thousand 
years ; and in a very high degree of every part of it, except 
that styled Gog and Magog." — Johnston on the Rev. vol. ii. 
pp. 310,311. 

As our views upon the whole subject of the Millennium 
will be given in full in the sequel, it will be unnecessary to 
anticipate here the remarks which we should otherwise 
have to offer upon these quotations. Error is more effec- 
tually subverted by the establishment of truth. The light 
in which we view them will disclose itself as we advance. 
We are now prepared to enter upon the direct considera- 
tion of the subject. 



42 THE MILLENNIUM. 

CHAPTER III. 

EXPLICATION OF THE SYMBOL OF THE DRAGON. 

The grand characteristic of the Millennium described 
by John is the binding of Satan or the Dragon. " And I 
saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of 
the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he 
laid hold on the Dragon, that old serpent, which is the 
Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years." Now 
as the whole book of the Apocalypse is marked by a sus- 
tained unity of character, imparting its revelations not in 
literal but in figurative lauguage, this is to be regarded as 
a symbolical action, forming a part of the tissue of vis- 
ionary scenery running through the book, every portion of 
which is to be interpreted in consistency with the structure 
of the whole. In this sense, that may be said with pecu- 
liar propriety of the Revelation of John which is elsewhere 
said of the whole Scriptures, that no prophecy is of any 
private interpretation ; i. e. no prophecy is of an isolated 
interpretation ; but is to be regarded as a constituent por- 
tion of a general system of prophecy, and therefore unsus- 
ceptible of a just and genuine interpretation when viewed 
apart from its peculiar relations and dependencies. If, 
then, we would establish the exposition of the scriptural 
doctrine of the Millennium upon its legitimate basis, it is 
indispensably requisite that the import of this symbolical 
action, the binding of Satan, should be determined in the 
outset. But how can this be ascertained without fixing in 
the first instance the hieroglyphical significancy of Satan 
or the Dragon himself? Here, if we mistake not, has lain 
the prime and radical error of nearly all commentators 
upon the Apocalypse, and of most of the modern advocates 
of a future Millennium. They have understqpd this title 



THE MILLENNIUM. 43 

in its literal sense, as the designation of the prince of evil 
spirits acting exclusively in his appropriate character of 
spiritual agent, tempting and inciting the minds of men to 
sin. But as Satan in this connection is indubitably iden- 
tified with the Dragon of a former vision, and as the 
Dragon, from his being represented with seven heads and 
ten horns, and from ihe other peculiar attributes ascribed 
to him, must stand as the hieroglyphical representative of 
some substantial persecuting power, it is obvious that the 
epithet Satan or Devil, in its prophetic bearings, must 
point to something else than a mere disastrous influence 
putting itself forth upon the sentient spirits of men. 

To the task therefore of determining, according to the 
principles of symbolical interpretation, the legitimate scope 
of this emblem, we now address ourselves ; a purpose in 
the prosecution of which it will be necessary to enter into 
a minute and critical analysis of other passages in the book 
where the mention of this ill-omened personage occurs. 
In this mode of conducting the inquiry we shall in fact 
embrace a connected history of the Dragon in his succes- 
sive prophetical developments, tracing him through the 
three grand stages of his manifestation ; in which he ap- 
pears, (1) as holding a preeminence in the Apocalyptic 
heaven ; (2) as cast down from thence to the earth ; (3) 
as degraded from the surface of the earth to a place of 
confinement in its subterranean abysses. 

As he is first ushered to view in the twelfth chapter of 
the Revelation, we shall commence our investigation with 
a detailed exposition of that part of the book, the results of 
which will be subsequently applied to the elucidation of 
the twentieth, as it is upon the right interpretation of the 
twentieth that the whole doctrine of the Millennium hinges. 
Our inquiry may conduct us over a pretty wide field of re- 
search, but we flatter ourselves that the reader will find 



44 THE MILLENNIUM. 

enough on the way of curious and rare to reward the toil 
of travel. 

REVELATION, CHAP. XII. 

1. And there appeared a great wonder in heaven ; a wo- 
man clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and 
upon her head a crown of twelve stars : 2. And she, heing 
with child, cried, travailing in hirtli, and pained to be deliv- 
ered. 3. And there appeared another wonder in heaven ; 
and behold a great red dragon, liaving seven heads and ten 
horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. 4. And his tail 
drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them 
to the earth : and the dragon stood before the woman which 
was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as 
it was born. 5. And she brought forth a man child, who 
was to rule all nations with a rod of iron : and her child was 
caught uj) unto God, and to his throne. 6. And the woman 
fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of 
God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred 
and threescore days. 7. And there was war in heaven ; 
Michael and his angels fought against the dragon : and the 
dragon fought and his angels. 8. And prevailed not ; nei- 
ther was their place found any more in heaven. 9. And the 
great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, 
and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world : he was cast 
out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. 
10. And I heard a loud voice saying in lieaven. Now is come 
salvation and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the 
power of his Christ : for the accuser of our brethren is cast 
down, which accused them before our God day and night. 
n. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and 
by the word of their testimony ; and they loved not their 
lives unto the death. 12. Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and 
ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabitants of the earth 
and of tlie sea, for the devil is come down unto you, having 
great wrath, because he knoweth that ]je hath but a short 
time. 13. And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto 
the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the 
man child. 14. And to the woman were given two wings 
of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness into 
her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and 



THE MILLENNIUM. 45 

half a time, from the face of the serpent. 15. And the ser- 
pent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, 
that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood. i6. 
And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her 
mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the di'agon cast 
out of his mouth. 17. And the dragon was wroth with the 
woman, and went to make war with the lemnant of her seed, 
which keep the commandments of God, and have the testi- 
mony of Jesus Christ. 

The book of Revelation is eminently peculiar and uni- 
que in its structure. The true order of the great chain of 
events predicted in it is not to be determined by there- 
corded order of the visions in which they are shadowed 
forth. On the contrary, it is not unfrequently the case, 
that one, two, or three chapters are occupied with the 
visionary representation of a train of affairs extending over 
a given period of time, and terminating at a particular 
epoch, while the chapter immediately subsequent, taking up 
another order of occurrences, remounts to a period equally 
remote with the preceding, and, with a different object in 
view, conducts us over the same, or nearly the same, chro- 
nological era. A vision, therefore, at the beginning of 
the book, may point to an event occurring in the last ages 
of time, while one at the close of the volume may remand 
us back for its fulfilment to the primitive periods of 
Christianity. The grand canon of Apocalyptic interpre- 
tation, originally laid down by Mede, and since adopted 
by all the best commentators, is this : — That the order of 
the visions is to be determined, irrespective of any pre- 
vious hypothesis, wholly and solely by the intrinsic char- 
acters of the visions themselves, a careful study of which 
will enable one to distinguish with more or less precision 
those which synchronize from those which do not. This 
has been termed the principle of ' abstract synchroniza- 
tion,' and certainly affords a clew of the utmost impor- 
tance to those who are prompted to thread the mazes of 



46 THE MILLENNIUM. 

the Apocalyptic labyrinth. Governed by this principle, 
the eminent expositor above-mentioned has occupied a 
considerable portion of his Clavis Apocalyptica with the 
independent harmonical sorting and arranging of the va- 
rious predictions of the Revelation which are chronologi- 
cally connected with each other. In this he has perform- 
ed an invaluable service to the cause of prophetical inter- 
pretation. It may be doubted, indeed, whether he has 
been uniformly correct in the particular applications of 
his principle, but as to the soundness of the principle it- 
self there can be no question. 

On the ground, therefore, of this admitted law of ex- 
position, we remark, that the chapter before us introduces 
a vision entirely distinct from all that has preceded. Its 
connexion with the foregoing, chapter, which is at first 
by no means obvious, may be stated thus : — The closing 
verses of that chapter contain the account of the sound- 
ing of the seventh trumpet, the vehicle of the third woe, 
which, while it announces the passing over of the regen- 
cy of the kingdoms of this world from the hands of their 
former despotic and secular rulers into the hands of Jesus 
Christ, their rightful, all-competent, and spiritual sove- 
reign, proclaim also the coming of a time of wrath upon 
the angry nations, who had hitherto obstructed and still 
continued to resist the Saviour's assumption of his legiti- 
mate supremacy. It was now the time of judgment, when 
they were to be destroyed who had themselves destroyed 
or corrupted the earth. But as yet no exact specification 
had been given of the body of men upon whom the deso- 
lating woe of the seventh trumpet was destined to fall. It 
is plain indeed, from a subsequent part of the book, that 
the subjects of this woe were to exist in form of the com- 
munity symbolically denominated the Beast. As the 
Beast, however, was a power which was to act a very 
prominent and conspicuous part in the prophetic drama. 



THE MILLENNIUM. 47 

it was peculiarly fitting that the spirit of inspiration should 
in this matter assume the province of the historian, and 
give us a brief but comprehensive sketch of the origin, 
rise, progress, career and catastrophe of this mystic mon- 
ster. This accordingly is done in the series of chapters 
extending from the thirteenth to the nineteenth inclusive. 
But the Beast of the Apocalypse was the lineal decendant 
of the Dragon ; it was necessary, therefore, in order to 
the tracing of the symbolical pedigree of the Beast, that 
the narrative should commence with the history of the 
Dragon, his predecessor, who ' gave him his power, his 
seat and great authority.' It is for this end, accordingly, 
that the vision of the Beast is prefaced with that of the 
Dragon. The one would be incomplete without the oth- 
er. This view of the subject, which seems not to have 
occurred to preceding expositors, will be found, if we mis- 
take not, of the utmost importance in unravelling the en- 
igmas of the Revelation. We are persuaded, at least, 
that in the explication of the doctrine of the Millennium, 
no scheme can be well founded which entirely disre- 
gards it. 

The prophet, in the course of the supernatural revela- 
tions vouchsafed to him in his banishment, beholds a wo- 
man clothed with the sun, having the moon under her 
feet, and her head adorned with a diadem or coronet of 
twelve stars. This symbolical woman is represented to 
the entranced eye of the Seer as upon the eve of giving 
birth to a man-child, who was to enter upon a predestin- 
ed state of authority, in which he should rule all nations 
with a rod of iron ; a badge of dominion betokening not 
so much the severity, as the Jirmness and strength of his 
universal government. At this perilous juncture, in im- 
mediate juxtaposition with the parturient woman, the 
Prophet beholds ' a great red dragon,' distinguished by 
seven heads and ten horns, while each of the heads was 



48 THE MILLENNIUM. 

surmounted with a kingly crown. " And he stood before 
the woman for to devour her child as soon as it should be 
born." The child however escaped the rapacious jaws 
of the monster. Instead of becoming the victim, he be- 
comes the victor, of the destroyer; for being, by divine in- 
terposition, caught up to the throne of God, he there un- 
der the appellation of ' Michael,' begins a war against the 
Dragon and his angels, which is finally terminated by 
the utter discomfiture of the latter, and his dejection, with 
all his warring legions, from the ascendancy which he had 
hitherto possessed. Upon this a triumphal song is sung 
on high — lofty paeans of praise and gratulation resound 
through the heavenly regions — and the mutual felicitations 
of the victors are mingled with devout ascriptions to that 
Almighty Power through which their conquest had been 
achieved. 

Such are the outlines of this significant phantasm replete 
with a fulness of inspired import. We have here the sa- 
cred hieroglypic, couching under it a meaning infinitely 
more momentous than the mystic chroniclings of the mon- 
uments of Egypt ; and the task now remains of endeavor- 
ing to translate from the pictorial to the verbal language 
the burden of the Prophet's symbols. 

And first of the Woman. " A woman clothed with the 
sun," etc. Throughout all antiquity, both sacred and pro- 
fane, there is no symbol more frequent or familiar than 
that by which a female is employed to represent a eom- 
viunity. Cities are often thus depicted upon the medals, 
coins, and inscriptions, which have come down to us from 
remote times, and it is not a little remarkable, that in an 
ancient coin commemorative of the Babylonish captivity, 
the nation of Israel is represented by a female setting un- 
der a palm-tree overwhelmed in tears. The phraseology, 
moreover, in which the Jewish church is denominated * the 
virgin daughter of Zion,' * daughter of Jerusalem,' etc. is 



THE MILLENNIUM. 49 

familiar to every reader of the scriptures. The ecclesias- 
tical community of that people is called by Isaiah and Jere- 
miah a * bride ;' and Ezek. ch. xvi. contains an extended 
allegory, in which the Jewish church is represented under 
the figure of a female advancing through the periods of 
childhood and youth to the age and stature of a woman. So 
when the Israelites were guilty of idolatry, the nation is 
spoken of collectively as an adulteress or harlot. The 
same kind of diction prevails in those passages which are 
prophetical of the Christian church. In Ps. 45: 10 — 17, 
she is spoken of as a bride, and the scene of her nuptials 
minutely described ; while the entire book of the Canticles 
is nothing but a continued allegory, shadowing forth the 
mystical union between Christ and the church, his spiritual 
spouse. Similar allusions occur in the New Testament. 
Paul, in 2 Cor. 11: 2, says, "I have espoused you to one 
husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to 
Christ." And in the subsequent parts of this book, the 
Christian church is exhibited under the same emblem, 
where the marriage of the Lamb is spoken of. The false 
church also is adumbrated by the image of a woman cloth- 
ed in purple and scarlet, and drunk with the blood of the 
saints. Rev. ch. xvii. where the force of the symbol, as 
pointing to a body politic, is expressly defined by the inter- 
preting angel : — " And the woman which thou sawest is 
that great city which reigneth over the kings of the earth ; 
' City ' here is to be understood in the sense of community 
or polity. In like manner, other communities or polities 
beside those which are sacred are denominated by the same 
symbolical term. In Isaiah 47: 1, for instance, the city or 
kingdom of Babylon is thus apostrophized : " Come down, 
and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon ;" ex- 
plained in the Tar gum by ' Regnum congregationis Baby- 
loniae,' — kingdom of the Babylonian congregation ; called 
' daughter of Babylon,' in the same manner as Homer has 
5 



50 THE MILLENNIUM. 

naldEq "A/aiMV — vhq^AxaiCJv, children of the Gree.hs — sons 
of the Greeks, for Greeks simply. 

We may set it down, therefore, as a conceded point of 
interpretation, that the Woman in this passage is the repre- 
sentative of a community, a multitudinous body of men. 
This however is advancing but a single step in our inquiry. 
The next point is to identify this mystic personage, or to 
determine the specific community of which she is the type. 
In doing this we are forced, after much deliberation, to re- 
mount to a period no less distant than the transaction in 
Eden. There, it will be recollected, it was announced, as 
the proto-promise of evangelic mercy, to our lapsed mater- 
nal progenitor, that a perpetuated enmity should subsist be- 
tween her (spiritual) seed and the seed of the serpent. 
The issue, moreover, of this protracted feud it was de- 
clared should be the bruising of the head of the serpent by 
the seed of the woman. Now it is evident, that, although 
in the phrase ' seed of the woman,' a special reference is 
had to the Messiah, to whom the title emphatically pertains, 
yet it is in effect but another name for a line of descend- 
ants of peculiar character, contradistinguished from the 
remnant of her natural progeny styled the ' seed of the ser- 
pent.' For in the sense of physical derivation it is plain 
that the * seed of the serpent ' is as truly the seed of the 
woman as those who are by way of eminence expressly so 
called. Suppose now it were the object of the Holy Ghost 
to select an appropriate symbol or hieroglyphic, by which 
to adumbrate this collective, successive, progressive body, 
as it gradually evolved itself through a series of ages, 
should we not say that that of a ' woman ' was peculiarly 
suited to the purpose ? — especially when it is considered, 
that the Omniscient Spirit foresaw that the ransomed por- 
tion of human kind were to sustain to their divine Ran- 
somej the conjugal relation ? If this be conceded, if it be 
admitted that the ' woman ' of this vision is but a collective 



THE MILLENNIUM, 51 

designation of the sph-itual seed of Eve, it will obviously 
follow, that the predicted line of the woman's seed is to be 
traced in the history of the Jewish church. The true 
church of God, therefore, as existing in the nation of Israel, 
is the sun-clad woman of the Apoccdypse. We do not say 
that the Jewish nation as such constitutes the substance of 
this prophetical shadow, but the true church, as embodied 
in that nation, and which by continuity of being under a 
change of form passed into the Christian church under the 
new economy. For we find this woman, long after the 
dissolution of the Jewish state, represented as flying into 
the wilderness, and there subsisting for the space of 1260 
years, which is undoubtedly to be understood not of the 
Israelitish nation, but of the church of Christ. The ob- 
ject of the Holy Spirit, however, in this part of the vision, 
was to portray the true church in a form adapted to its 
ante-Christian state, and the imagery has therefore mainly 
a Jewish aspect. Guided by this clew, the solution of the 
symbols is not difficult. In the possession of the sunlight 
of revelation during every period of her ecclesiastical ex- 
istence, we see what is implied in the radiant investment of 
solar glory in which she shone forth. In the twelve patri- 
archs of the old dispensation, to which the twelve apostles 
of the new corresponded, we see the crown of twelve stars 
adorning her reverend brows. In the subserviency of 
the moon to the uses of the Jewish church, in regulating 
the fasts, feasts, and convocations of that primitive econ- 
omy, we learn the drift of the emblem, ' the moon un- 
der her feet,' a station indicative not oi degradation, but of 
ministry ; as a servant at the feet of his master is not there 
to be trampled upon, but to be at his beck and bidding. 
While of the circumstance of the woman's being upon the 
eve of the maternal relation, we have to look for a solution 
merely to the fact, that through a tract of ages the Jewish 
church was pregnant with the promise of the Messiah. In 



52 THE MILLENNIUM. 

the womb of her faith and hope reposed for ages the un- 
born ' desire of nations.' And as the destined mother an- 
ticipates with earnest solicitude the natal hour of her ex- 
pected offspring, so did the covenant race long for the ush- 
ering into life of their promised Lord and King. 

We have thus, we imagine, paved the way for the un- 
ravelling of the other portions of the scenery of this re- 
markable vision. We have seen that the Apocalyptic Wo- 
man is a designed impersonation of a continuous line or 
successson of men, stamped with the seal of a peculiar 
character, and extending from the primeval epoch of recov- 
ered grace down to the period of Christ's nativity. And 
we beg leave to remark, that this idea of continuity, of pro- 
gressiveness, of gradual development, is all-important to 
the right explication of the imagery. 

We now proceed to the symbol of the Dragon. " Be- 
hold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten 
horns," etc. The fact which we may consider as estab- 
lished, that the Woman represents the ' seed of the woman,' 
will prepare us for the assumption, that the Dragon or the 
Serpent, — for these words are used interchangeably, — re- 
presents the ' seed of the serpent,' as progressively evolving 
itself in the course of natural generation and characteristic 
action from age to age. For the vision does not contem- 
plate any one particular period of time, but portrays by a 
stationary symbol a moving series of events. Here then 
we have vividly depicted before us, in their appropriate 
emblems, the two great antagonist seeds which have di- 
vided the family of man from the beginning, ranged in di- 
rect hostility to each other, and running in parallel lines of 
antithetic existence through the lapse of many centuries. 
But the scope of the vision is undoubtedly designed to re- 
present the seed of the serpent under a peculiar aspect, viz. 
as a persecuting power. It is important therefore that our 
conceptions of it should be still more distinct. In a subse- 



THE MILLENNIUM. 53 

quent verse, after the account of the battle and its issue 
which ensued between Michael and the Dragon, it is said, 
that ' the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called 
the Devil and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world.' 
This affords an item of information of great moment. The 
Dragon is here obviously identified with the Devil or Sa- 
tan, so that if the one is, in this book, an allegorical being, 
the other is so also. His titles, it will be observed, are 
recited with the utmost particularity. As a magistrate, in 
making out a warrant for the apprehension of a villain who 
had palmed himself upon the public by different names, 
would be careful to specify them all by the prefix of an 
alias, so the Spirit, in the present instance, studiously spe- 
cifies the various designations of this grand adversary, as if 
to preclude the possibility of mistake. * The great dragon, 
alias the old serpent, alias the Devil, alias Satan ; — by 
whatever appellation he may be distinguished, here he is; 
you may know him by his escutcheon.' Of the two great 
belligerent parties, therefore, which figured in this world's 
history for at least 4000 years prior to the Saviour's ad- 
vent, and who are here shown confronting each other in 
hostile array, one we learn upon divine authority is the 
Devil. 

The interesting inquiry at once arises. Upon what 
grounds is the being denominated the Devil portrayed in 
such terrific guise ? What mean his seven heads crowned 
with the badges of royalty 1 What is implied in the cir- 
cumstance of his standing, with menacing rapacity, intent 
to devour the expected birth of the woman ? These char- 
acters but ill accord with the idea of a merely spiritual 
agency put forth upon the minds of men. A more sub- 
stantial and palpable power of evil is certainly represented 
by the image. In attempting to solve the mystery we ob- 
serve, that if the Devil or Satan be identical with the Dra- 
gon of the Apocalypse, and if the Dragon be but a sym- 
5* 



54 THE MILLENNIUM. 

bolical personification of the collective body of the ser- 
pent's seed, then the Devil also, far from being a mere ab- 
straction or a purely spiritual entity, is but the symbolical 
title of a vast society of wicked men, pervaded and imbued 
by the spirit of rancorous hate towards the entire corpora- 
tion of the righteous, and in that form waging an incessant 
war against them. Consequently we arrive at the conclu- 
sion, that the foul and disastrous machinations of the Devil, 
so far as he is to be conceived of abstractly from the sys- 
tem which he actuates, has been in all ages directed not 
merely against the souls, but against the bodies o^men\ 
that he has come upon them not merely in the character of 
an inward tempter moving and enticing their minds to sin, 
but that he has employed a system of agencies with a view 
to the infliction of various physical evils bearing with tre- 
mendous weight upon their individual and social state. 
Consulting the records of the human race in the pages of 
history, we learn that it has been by means of an array of 
organized instrumentiilities in the form of tyrannical gov- 
ernments, backed by false religions, that the seed of the 
serpent have waged their unhallowed warfare against the 
seed of the woman, the sons of sanctity. It has been 
through the agency of despotic kings and bigoted priests, 
— of monarchies and hierarchies, — that the grievous and 
untold sufferings of the mass of men have in all ages been 
visited upon them. This assuredly has been the grand 
character of the satanic devices. This has been the mas- 
ter-plot of this arch-contriver of political and moral mis- 
chief to the human race. From the days of Nimrod, 
when that mighty hunter erected, on the plains of Shinar, 
the ancient Babylon as the metropolis of an intended uni- 
versal monarchy, the greatest scourge which has rested 
upon the earth, that which has breathed with most effect 
its blasting mildews over the harvest-field of the human 
mind, has existed in the form of great consolidated gov- 



THE MILLENNIUM. 55 

ernments, founded upon despotic principles, enforced by 
gloomy superstitions, and upheld by the terrors of the 
sword, the rack, the block, and the dungeon. The Devil 
has inspired these governmental fabrics as their prompting 
genius, and in the language of prophecy has given them 
their denomination. He has ensconced himself behind 
the political outworks. He has plied the secret machi- 
nery of the imperial engines, and has been to them in fact 
in all ages precisely that which the soul is to the body. 

We hesitate not, therefore, to consider the Dragon of 
the Revelation as a standing symbol of Paganism, includ- 
ing in that term the twofold idea of despotic government 
and false religion. Can a lingering doubt remain of the 
justness of this interpretation when we advert to the pecu- 
liar costume of the image 1 " And behold a great red 
dragon having seven heads and seven crowns upon his 
heads." Is not a crown the symbol of sovereignty 1 And 
what can be understood by the seven crowned heads, but 
seven imperial kingdoms which exercised, at different pe- 
riods, an oppressive domination over the church 1 We 
say, ' at different periods,' because, as the symbols here 
employed are not to be restricted to any one point of time, 
but are to be conceived as spreading over a long period, 
we are forced to regard these seven heads as representing 
seven successive reigning powers, coming one after another 
into existence by gradual accretion through the course of 
centuries, till at the date of the vision the Dragon had re- 
ceived his entire complement of heads, and in the Pagan 
Roman Empire stood forth to the eye of the Prophet in 
the full maturity of his age, and in the highest vigor of his 
action. The exact specification of the number seven in 
regard to these emblematic heads is indeed a matter of 
some difficulty ; but as this number is repeatedly used in 
the sacred volume in an indefinite sense, implying the sum 
total, the universality, the perfection of the things spoken 



56 THE MILLENNIUM. 

of, SO in the present instance it may simply be intended to 
denote all the despotic. and oppressive civil powers which, 
anterior to the age of the prophet, had put their yokes upon 
the necks of the peculiar people. In this enumeration we 
cannot mistake in reckoning Egypt, Babylon, Persia, 
Greece, and Rome. And if fuller details of ancient his- 
tory had remained to us, we should probably be able at 
least to complete the catalogue. From the fact that John 
saw each of these heads actually wearing a crown, whereas, 
at the time of the vision, only the Roman head was in re- 
ality in being, it is evident that he was favored with a 
lengthened survey of the chronological career of the Dra- 
gon, comprising the whole term of the disastrous domi- 
nance of his heads. In the subsequent vision of the Beast, 
the Dragon's successor, the crowns had passed from the 
heads to the horns, indicating that that sovereignty which 
had formerly pertained to the seven successive Pagan em- 
pires had now become concentrated in the ten independent 
governments, symbolised by the horns, into which the Ro- 
mcin Empire in its latter stages had become divided. 

That this interpretation of ' heads,' as a prophetic sym- 
bol, rests upon something more than mere conjecture will 
appear from a consideration of the nature of symbolic 
language. " We must note," says Daubuz, ** that the 
governing part of the political world appears under sym- 
bols of different species ; and that it is variously represented 
according to the various kinds of allegories. If the alle- 
gory be derived from the sensible world, then the lumina- 
ries denote the governing part ; if from an animal, the 
head or horns ; if from the earth, a mountain or fortress ; 
and in this case the capital city, or residence of the gov- 
ernor, is taken for the supreme ; by which it happens that 
these mutually illustrate each other. So a capital city is 
the head of the political body ; the head of the animal is 
the fortress of the animal ; mountains are the natural for- 



THE MILLENNIUM. 57 

tresses of the earth ; and therefore a fortress or capital city, 
though set in a plain level ground, may be called a moun- 
tain. And this by the rule of analogical metaphors, the 
terms of which mutually illustrate each other. Thus head, 
mountain, hill, city, horn, and king are in a manner sy- 
nonymous terms to signify a kingdom, monarchy, or re- 
public united under one government ; only with this dif- 
ference, that it is to be understood in dijfferent respects ; 
for the head represents it in respect of the capital city ; 
mountain or hill, in respect of the strength of the metropo- 
lis, which gives law, or is above the adjacent territories ; 
and the like. Thus in Is. 2: 2, ' And it shall come to pass 
in the last days that the mountain of the Lord's house shall 
be established in the tops of the mountains, and shall be ex- 
alted above the hills ; and all nations shall flow unto it.' 
This needs not to be proved to signify the kingdom of the 
Messias. So a capital city is a head, and taken for the 
whole territory thereof, as in Is. 7: 8, 9, ' For the head of 
Syria is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Rezin ; 
and the head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Sa- 
maria is Remaliah's son.' Is. 11:9, ' They shall not hurt 
or destroy in all my holy mountain,'' that is, in all the king- 
dom of the Messias, which shall then reach all over the 
world, for it follows : ' The earth shall be full of the know- 
ledge of the Lord.' Mic. 6: 7, 8, * Contend thou before 
the mountains, and let the hills hear thy voice : hear, ye 
mountains, the Lord's controversy.' The commentators 
here say : ' Montes hie vocat principes et proceres' — he 
here calls princes and potentates mountains, citing for it 
Ps. 72: 3. Is. 2: 14. Habak. 3: 6. So the whole Assyrian 
monarchy is called a mountain in Zech. 4: 7. ' Who art 
thou, O great mountain ? before Zerubbabel thou shalt 
become a plain ;' and in Jerem. 51: 25, ^ a destroying 
mountain.^ Thus also in Dan. 2: 35, 'The stone that 
smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the 



58 THE MILLENNIUM. 

whole earth ;' that is, the kingdom of the Messias having 
destroyed the four monarchies became an universal monar- 
chy, as it is plainly made out in v. 44, 45. Again, Is. 41: 
15, * Thou shalt thresh the mountains, and shalt make the 
hills as chaff.' Targ. 'Decides populos, et consumes reg- 
na, quasi stipulam pones eos' — tJiou shalt slay the proplr, 
and shalt consume the kingdoms ; thou shalt malce them as 
stubble.''* Heads and mountains therefore being synony- 
mous symbols, the seven heads of the Dragon are seven 
monarchies. This is strikingly confirmed by a reference 
to Rev. 17: 9, 10, where the prophet gives a description of 
the Beast which succeeded the Dragon, and whose power 
territorially considered was commensurate with that of the 
Dragon, so that the heads in each are -a symbol perfectly 
equivalent, and which is thus explained by the interpreting 
angel : * Here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven 
heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth. 
And there are seven kings.' The translation here is un- 
happy.t By the sentence being closed at the M'ord ' sit- 
teth,' and the next made to begin thus : * And there are 
seven kings,' the 'seven kings' are separated from their 
antecedents, and the verb * are ' from its nominative, and 
the reader is led to suppose that the words ' there are seven 
kings' have no particular connexion with the seven heads 
in the preceding verse. Whereas it is clear from the orig- 
inal, that the seven heads are the antecedent both to the 
seven mountains and to the seven kings, and the nomina- 
tive to both the verbs which precede the words ' moun- 
tains' and ' kings.' A literal translation would render the 
passage thus : — ' The seven heads are seven mountains 
where the woman sitteth upon them, and they are seven 



* Perpet. Comment, p. 507. 

f At eJTTa xscpalu}, ima oi)t^ fialv, onov ?/' yvvi] '/.adriTcn in: 
aiiTioy, y.ul ^uadilc emu elaiv. 



THE MILLENNIUM. 59 

kings ;' i. e. kingdoms, the uniform sense of the term 
* kings ' in the style of the prophets. 

The drift of the hierophantic angel is to inform the 
Seer, that ' heads' and ' mountains' were equivalent sym- 
bols, both denoting ' kingdoms.' By the woman's sitting on 
seven mountains, therefore, we are to understand that the 
Roman Empire, in its ecclesiastical form embraced within 
its limits all those ancient sovereignties which had con- 
stituted the heads of the Dragon in former ages, and 
which had successively yielded to the Roman arms, and 
been merged into constituent parts of its imperial integri- 
ty. As, however, the city of Rome itself was seated up- 
on seven hills, there is in the image a simultaneous sec- 
ondary allusion to that far-famed centre of supremacy. 
At the same time we do not hesitate to affirm, that the 
plentitude of the symbol is far from being exhausted by 
its application to the Capitoline, Viminal, Quirinal, and 
other hills, which constituted the site of the 'eternal city.' 
" We must not here forget," says the writer above-cited, 
" as a secondary event or coincidence of this prophecy, 
that the capital city of the Dragon's dominions was placed 
upon seven heads or hills. The Roman authors are full 
of that notion ; and as if that circumstance were fatal, not 
only Rome was so built, but also Constantinople of the 
New Rome, sister to the former, was built on seven hills. 
This, I confess, is a kind of fatal coincidence; but yet the 
first intention of the Holy Ghost was not to express that, 
but that the empire of the Dragon should, in its whole ex- 
tent and duration, as also the Beast his successor, consist 
of seven capital cities or monarchies ; which is the true 
meaning of the seven heads, mountains, or kings. We 
may not imagine that the Holy Ghost would dwell upon 
so narrow a conceit as that circumstance of the building 
of the city, and neglect that remarkable one of the extent 
of the dominions ; besides, that the exposition of seven 



60 THE MILLENNIUM. 

kingdoms destroys so trifling a notion of the seven moun- 
tains. There goes about another account of these seven 
heads, said to be found out by King James the First: — 
that the seven heads were the seven kinds of government 
which have been in Rome from its foundation under the 
kings to the emperors and popes. This is mightily ap- 
plauded by Du Moulin, followed by Mede, Jurieu, and 
who not. But we cannot acquiesce therein, both upon 
the account of the true signification of head or minmtain, 
as we have explained and fully proved it; and more espe- 
cially for the following reason : — that the Holy Ghost doth 
not use to call any government by any other name but 
that of kingdom, and so takes no notice of what changes 
might be made in the lodging of the supreme power in dif- 
ferent hands, provided it remains in the hands of the same 
nation. It is still the same head though it should run 
through many more sorts of government. A king signi- 
fies the possessor of the supreme power, let it be lodged in 
one person, two, ten or more ; and a head or capital city 
is still the same head, though its power be executed by a 
king, consuls, decemvirs or senate. For we must argue 
about the political body as about the animal. The changes 
that happen in the animal through the various nourish- 
ment it takes, or the different ages it goes through, are not 
wont to make us describe him with different bodies, heads 
or faces, (merely) because the appearance of these hath 
sometimes changed ; so it is in the political body. Many 
revolutions may happen therein from within itself, but as 
long as the same polity is preserved in the same city, peo- 
ple and laws, without making any thorough or partial 
change of nation, occasioned by the force of foreign ar- 
mies, it is the same political body, and the same head too, 
whilst it is held in the same place, and the laws of the gov- 
ernment are issued from it. Thus we see that the changes 
of the ministry make no alteration of the head ; and by 



THE MILLENNIUM. 



4i 



consequence that every such change makes not a new and 
different head."* 

We have proceeded thus far in our explication of the 
symbol of the Dragon without appealing, in confirmation 
of its justness, to any express passage of holy writ. It 
will be proper, therefore, to ascertain how far the usage of 
the sacred writers in respect to this remarkable hierogly- 
phic, goes to authenticate the interpretation now given. In 
the seventy-fourth Psalm we meet with a plaintive lament 
of the Psalmist over the desolation and havoc which the 
enemies of Zion had wrought within the limits of the holy 
land, and even within the precincts of the sanctuary, the 
dwelling place of the name of the Lord of hosts. This is 
followed by an earnest prayer for the divine interposition, 
grounded upon the recollection of what God had wrought 
in behalf of his people in former days, of which the sup- 
pliant says, v. 12 — 14, ' For God is my king of old, work- 
ing salvation in the midst of the earth. Thou didst divide 
the sea by thy strength : thou brakest the heads of the 
dragons in ihe waters. Thou brakest the heads of levia- 
than in pieces, and gavest him to be meat to the people in- 
habiting the wilderness.' This is an evident allusion to 
the overthrow of the Egyptian power when the Israelites 
were brought out and delivered from their hand. In the 
highly figured diction of the prophets the Egyptians are 
denominated dragons, and Pharaoh himself, their prince, 
styled Leviathan, the master-monster of the deep. Ac- 
cordingly the Chaldee Targum renders the passage, 'Tu 
confregisti capita fortium Pharaonis,' — thou hast broken 
the heads of the mighty men of Pharaoh. The Leviathan 
is the great Dragon, as we find by Ps. 104 : 26, ' There 
is that leviathan whom thou hast made to play therein,' 
where Jgaxoiv — dragon is the rendering employed by the 

* Perpet. Comment, p. 514. 

6 



62 THE MILLENNIUM. 

Seventy. The term is in fact applied to any huge mon- 
ster of the serpent kind, whether aquatic or terrestrial, as 
even the original Hebrew word for ' whale' is in some 
cases rendered by the Greek term for dragon. As to the 
expression — ' gavest him to be meat to the people inhabit- 
ing the wilderness' — this is to be understood symbolically ; 
for in that character ^fsA is used to denote spoils or riches ; 
so that the language points to the circumstance of the 
Israelites carrying with them into the wilderness the treas- 
ures of gold and silver of which they had despoiled their 
oppressors, both at the time of their departure from Egypt, 
and when their dead bodies lay scattered upon the shores 
of the Red Sea. Again, Is. 51: 9, * Art thou not it that 
hath cut Rahab, and wounded the dragon ? Art thou not 
it which hath dried up the sea?' Here jR«/mZ> is Egypt, 
as has been clearly proved by Bochart,* and the Dragon 
is Pharaoh King of Egypt ; strikingly parallel to which is 
Ezek. 29: 3, ' Thus saith the Lord God ; Behold, I am 
against thee, Pharaoh King of Egypt, the great dragon 
that lieth in the midst of his rivers.' From his being said 
to be an inhabitant of ' rivers,' and from the mention, v. 4, 
of his ' scales,' it is not without reason supposed that the 
dragon here alluded to was the Egyptian crocodile, and 
Bochart has remarked that the Arabians call the croco- 
dile by the name of Pharaoh.f This circumstance how- 
ever does not affect its symbolical import. In Ezek. 32: 
2, the prophet resumes his comparison, saying, * Son of 
man, take up a lamentation for Pharaoh King of Egypt, 
and say unto him. Thou art like a young lion of the na- 
tions, and thou art as a whale (Gr. w? dqconav — as a dra- 



*Phaleg.L. IV.c.23. 

t Scheilchzer on tliis passaore observes, that among tlie ancients 
the crocodile was the symbol of Egypt, and appears so on Roman 
coins. And to what could a king of Egypt be more properly com- 
pared than to a crocodile ? 



THE MILLENNIUM. 03 

gon) in the seas.' If, however, we take the word to signi- 
fy any large creature whatever of the serpent species, it 
amounts to the same thing. It still denotes a tyrannical 
persecuting power. In Is. 27: 1, it is remarkable that the 
same symbol is presented under a striking diversity of ti- 
tles. ' In that day the Lord with his sore and great and 
strong sword shall punish leviathan the piercing serpent^ 
even leviathan that crooked serpent ; and he shall slay the 
dragon that is in the sea.' Here we have one and the 
same thing denominated the Leviathan or Crocodile, the 
Serpent, and the Dragon. ' These,' says Lowth, ' are 
used allegorically, without doubt, for great potentates, ene- 
mies and persecutors of the people of God.' The passage 
is thus paraphrased by the Targumist : — ' In that time the 
Lord will visit with his great and strong and mighty sword 
upon the king who is magnified, as Pharaoh the first king, 
and upon the king who is elevated, as Sennacherib the 
second king, and shall slay the king who is potent, as the 
dragon in the sea.' These kings are called Dragons and 
Serpents, because enemies to Israel. Ps. 91: 13, 'Thou 
shalt tread upon the lion and adder ; the young lion and 
the dragon shalt thou trample under feet ;' i. e. thou shalt 
bring thy bitterest enemies into subjection. 

From all that has now been adduced in relation to the 
subject we infer, that the symbolical import of the Dra- 
gon throughout the Scriptures is that of a vast system of 
civil and religious oppression, perpetuated through a long 
course of ages, and which at the time of this vision, was 
embodied in the existing Roman Empire, the last in that 
series of despotic and Pagan powers which went to form 
the completeness of the draconic dominion. But at the 
period of the vouchsafement of these visions to John, the 
Roman Empire embraced within its limits nearly the 
whole of the then known world, as is evident from the 
words of the Evangelist, Luke 2 : 1, 'There went out 



04 THE MILLENNIUM. 

a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should 
be taxed ;' meaning all the provinces of the Roman Em- 
pire. When it is said therefore that the Dragon which 
was cast out of heaven was the Old Serpent, called the 
Devil and Satan, which deceiveth the whole worlds we are 
led at once to conceive of the ' whole world ' as synony- 
mous with the territorial platform of the Roman Empire, 
which especially constituted the theatre of the Devil's or 
the Dragon's jurisdiction, and of which he was as it were 
the actuating and presiding genius. Accordingly it was 
the Roman Empire, as a grand governmental dominion, 
which the Dragon afterward transferred to the Beast, as it 
is said Rev. 13: 2, that ' The dragon gave him his power, 
and his seat, and great authority.' When we read, there- 
fore, in the history of the Saviour's temptation, that the 
Devil showed him all the kingdoms of the earth and the 
glory of them, the explanation doubtless is, that he showed 
him the splendor and magnificence of the Roman power, 
of which he claimed the lordship, and by his promising to 
bestow all this upon Christ provided he would fall down 
and worship him, it was but promising in other words that 
he would make him Caesar, which he imagined he could 
safely do, inasmuch as he was enabled to say, ' For that is 
mine, and to whomsoever I will, I give it ;' a claim which 
would seem to be countenanced by his having afterward 
made it over to the Beast. It was his however merely by 
divine permission or providential economy, and not by 
original right. It was for wise reasons, afterward to be 
developed, that he was permitted to become the ruling 
spirit of that huge despotism. 

And here we cannot but remark, that our interpretation 
of the symbol of the Dragon receives a strong collateral 
confirmation from the manner in which the Serpent has 
ever been regarded by heathen nations. Throughout the 
mythology of the ancients the Serpent, under some form 



THE MILLENNIUM. 65 

or other, occupies a very conspicuous place ; and how far 
this feature of their system is to be traced, through broken 
and distorted traditions, to the scriptural history of the Fall 
and the symbolical imagery founded upon it, would con- 
stitute one of the most interesting subjects of antiquarian 
research. Bryant, than whom few men have ever lived 
better qualified to prosecute the inquiry, had he seen fit to 
embark in it, remarks, that ' it would be a noble undertak- 
ing, and very edifying in its consequences, if some person 
of true learning and deep insight into antiquity would go 
through with the history of the Serpent.'* Scarcely a Pa- 
gan nation has existed among whom ophiolatry, or serpent- 
worship, has not been established, as will appear from the 
slightest inspection of their religious hieroglyphics. The 
fabulous legends of the poets intertwine with the dogmas of 
the priest and the speculations of the philosopher in form- 
ing the thread which conducts us to the inspired origin 
of the heathen notions on this subject. The idea so prev- 
alent in the early ages of the world of the existence of two 
great opposing Principles, the Spirit of Good and the Spirit 
of Evil, the last of which was ordinarily symbolized by a 
serpent, unquestionably refers itself directly to this source. 
The following passage, from the treatise of Plutarch on the 
Isis and Osiris of the Egyptians, is among the most impor- 
tant relics of antiquity. After speaking of Typhon, the 
Egyptian symbol of the Principle of Evil, he observes: 
" This very ancient opinion is derived from the divines and 
lawgivers to the poets and philosophers, having an un- 
known beginning, that the universe is not a principle with- 
out mind and reason, and ungoverned as if left to itself, 
but is governed by two contrary and jarring powers, the 
one leading directly forward to the right, and the other 
retrograde and wayward. So that this life is mixed, and 
the world irregular and various, and subject to all manner 

* Bryant's Anc. Myth. vol. i. 473. 4to. ed. 
6* 



66 THE MILLENNIUM. 

of change. For if there be nothing without a cause, and 
good cannot afford the cause of evil, there must be some 
peculiar generation and principle containing the nature of 
evil as well as of good. And this opinion was held by the 
mass of the wisest of men. For they believe that there 
are two Gods, like antagonists, the first, the Creator of 
Good, the latter of Evil. The better of them they call 
God, the other Demon, as they are termed by Zoroaster, 
the magician (sage), who is reported to have lived five 
thousand years before the Trojan war. He called the first 
Oromazes, and the other Arimmics ; and added, that the 
first was most like Light, and the latter like Darkness and 
Error.^''* The name of this evil genius, ' ^(jtif.iuvrig^ 
whom Plutarch elsewhere denominates -novt^oog dul^ioiv, 
wicked demon, and who is styled by Diogenes Laertius 
" y/idt]g, hell, unquestionably betrays a Hebraic origin. Some 
derive it from t^"\3> aroom, Chal. CnN arim, astutus, cun- 
ning, crafty, the appellation bestowed upon the Serpent, 
Gen. 3: 1, to which, if the Arabic termination be added, 
it makes it Ariman. Others deduce it from ri7a") rim- 
mah, Chal. '^;2") rimmi, nXuvav, to deceive, as if it were 
merely the Greek form of ■jin72~}ri harimmeJwn, the de- 
ceiver. Still, in either case, the term shows its affinity 
with the Hebrew language and with the distinguishing at- 
tributes of the Dragon or Old Serpent, the standing adver- 
sary of God and man. The name of the idol Rimmon-, men- 
tioned 2 Kings 5: 18, is probably to be referred to the same 
source. Now this mythologic divinity Arimanes is the 
same with the Typho of the Egyptians, who was represent- 
ed and worshipped under the form of a serpent. And it is 
worthy of note that the title Belial in the Scriptures, an- 
other name for the evil spirit, of which the Greek form is 
BeXiuQ, Beliar, is defined by Hesychius by d^u^ojv, dragon. 

* Plut.de Isid. et Osirid. p. 407. ed. Aid. 



THE MILLENNIUM. 67 

But to what was it owing that the Serpent, the symbol 
of all ill, the grand personification of mischief and sin, in- 
stead of being detested as an enemy, came to be worshipped 
as a god, having his altars, and services, and votaries 
among all pagan nations on earth 1 Perhaps no more sat- 
isfactory solution of this remarkable fact can be given, 
than to suppose that that which was at first abominated as 
the symbol of the wicked principle, came in process of 
time, from a motive of fear, to be regarded as having the 
power of doing harm to mankind, which it was necessary 
for them to deprecate by sacrifices and offerings. Hence 
the Serpent began to be worshipped, and the natural effect 
would eventually be, that he should be regarded as a pla- 
cable deity, having it equally in his power with other tu- 
telary demons to do good and to confer blessings when his 
favor was secured. "The devil," says Mr. Owen, "who 
under the shape of a serpent tempted our first parents, has, 
with unwearied application, labored to deify that animal 
as a trophy of his first victory over mankind. God having 
passed sentence upon the serpent, Satan consecrates that 
form in which he deceived the woman, and introduces it 
into the world as an object of religious veneration. This 
he did with a view to enervate the force of the divine ora- 
cle with respect to the seed of the woman. Scarcely a na- 
tion upon earth, but he has tempted to the grossest idola- 
try, and in particular got himself to be worshipped in the 
hideous form of a serpent."* 

" And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, 
and did cast them to the earth." A Uail,' considered as 
a prophetic emblem, is used to signify two things which 
frequently concur in the same subject, the one being the 
cause of the other. (1) It denotes subjection, or oppres- 
sion under tyranny. In this sense the symbol occurs with 
the explanation of God himself, Deut. 28: 13, where he 

* Owen's Hist, of the Serp. p. 216. 



68 THE MILLENNIUM. 

promises blessings to the obedient : ' And the Lord shall 
make thee the head and not the tail; and thou shalt be 
above only, and thou shalt not be beneath.' (2) It signi- 
fies a false prophet, impostor, or deceiver, one who propa- 
gates corrupt and pernicious doctrines, as the scorpion in- 
fuses into his victims the deadly poison of his tail. Is. 9: 
14, 15, ' Therefore the Lord will cut off from Israel head 
and tail, branch and rush, in one day. The ancient and 
honorable, he is the head ; and the prophet that tcachrth 
lies, he is the tail.'' Again, Is. 19: 15, ' Neither shall there 
be any work for Egypt, which the head or tail, branch or 
rush, may do;' i. e. neither the power of the princes nor 
the devices of false prophets and enchanters shall be at all 
availing. * Stars,' on the other hand, is the well-known 
symbol of spiritual teachers or ministers of the truth ; so 
that by the Dragon's drawing down from heaven, by means 
of his tail, a third, that is, a large or very considerable part 
of the stars, is shadowed forth the exertion of an evil influ- 
ence through the agency of idolatrous priests and other 
abettors of Paganism, whereby many of the ministering 
servants of God, the reputed luminaries of the church, are 
prevailed upon to apostatize from the true religion, and 
embrace the errors and abominations of Paganism. But 
such foul defections are usually the result of the display of 
the terrors of tyranny. Men are not ordinarily seduced 
from the true faith into idolatry except from motives of 
fear. So that the twofold idea of civil oppression and men- 
tal delusion is included under the symbol before us. That 
this has been in all acres the character of the Dragon, his- 
tory renders indubitable. For this feature of the symbol, 
like the foregoing, is not to be limited to any particular era, 
but is to be regarded as descriptive of the general charac- 
ter of the monster to whom it pertains. It was, however, 
most signally evinced in the history of the persecutions 
which took place under the Roman emperors. " In every 



THE MILLENNIUM. W 

persecution there were great numbers of unworthy Chris- 
tians, who publicly disowned or renounced the faith which 
they had professed ; and who confirmed the sincerity of 
their abjuration, by the legal acts of burning incense or of 
offering sacrifices. Some of these apostates had yielded on 
the first menace or exhortation of the magistrate ; while 
the patience of others had been subdued by the length or 
repetition of tortures."* 

" And the dragon stood before the woman which was 
ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it 
should be born." Like the other features of the hiero- 
glyphic scenery upon which we have already remarked, 
this also is to be viewed as an action co-extensive with the 
entire scope of the vision. It is to be regarded as charac- 
teristic of the Dragon during the whole reigning term of 
his existence. Throughout every period of the gradual ac- 
quisition of his imperial heads, he maintained the same at- 
titude of deadly hostility against the seed of the woman in 
their progressive development. Accordingly, in seeking an 
explication of this part of the visionary action of the Dra- 
gon, we have only to revert to the history of the children 
of Israel in Egypt, the first probably of his germinating 
heads ; and there, in the ruthless order of Pharaoh to cast 
all the male children into the Nile, we see fhis horrid 
appetite glutting itself with infant blood. At a later 
period, after the attainment of his Roman head, we behold 
in the sanguinary edict of Herod, commanding the slaugh- 
ter of the ?nale children of Bethlehem and its coasts, the 
same cannibal hankering gorging itself with its chosen ali- 
ment. But of his intended prey he was, in this latter in- 
stance, disappointed. The child brought forth by the wo- 
man, which we consider to have been literally Jesus Christ 
himself, was caught up to the throne of Heaven. The true 

* Gibbon's Decl. and Fall, p. 219. 



70 THE MILLENNIUM. 

Messiah, having broken asunder the bars of the grave, was 
raised to the right hand of God, and there invested with 
that divine dominion which the Father had decreed for 
him from eternity. Then commenced the symbolical war 
in Heaven. Under the sublime appellation of Michael, or, 
* Who is like thee, O, God?' he girded his sword on his 
thigh, and addressed himself to the glorious work of van- 
quishing this potent possessor of high places. " And there 
was war in heaven : Michael and his angels fought 
against the dragon, and the dragon fought and his angels, 
and prevailed not ; neither was their place found any more 
in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out." As the 
book of Revelation is made up of a series of pictorial or 
hieroglyphical emblems, it should not be forgotten that the 
rtality of the things said to be done in heaven actually 
transpires on earth. A war in heaven is but the shadow of 
a grand contest on earth, as heaven in the prophetic sym- 
bols seems to denote mainly a state or position of great eon- 
spieuity. By the necessity of the symbol, the conflicting 
angels are nothing more than mortal men, who take the 
opposite sides of a grand litigated question. In truth, the 
prophet himself furnishes a key to his own phraseology. 
For scarcely are the angels of Michael brought upon the 
stage, when they are forthwith styled * our brethren ;' and 
it is said, moreover, that ' they overcome him by the blcod 
of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony, and that 
they loved not their lives to the death.' Nothing therefore 
can be more evident than that the angels of Michael are 
mere mortal men, and we are bound by analogy to consider 
the angels of the Dragon as of the same character. It is 
only in the peculiar elevated style of prophecy that this is 
represented as a celestial combat. We have thereft)re to 
recur to history to find a series of events which we may 
suppose to have been adumbrated by the imagery in ques- 
tion. And such a train of occurrences meets us in the 



THE MILLENNIUM. 71 

memorable contest between Christianity and Paganism dur- 
ing the three hundred and twenty years subsequent to the 
first promulgation of the Gospel.* Throughout this ex- 
tended period, the fierce contention between the religion 
of the cross and the imperial Paganism of Rome was in- 
cessantly kept up.t The fate of the struggle hung for a 
long time apparently in suspense ; for the advantages of the 
Dragon were to human view signal and numerous. Every 
time that a band of faithful martyrs w^as led to the stake or 
the rack ; every time the infuriated cry, ' Ad leones /' was 
raised over their heads, we see the victory inclining to the 
side of the Dragon ; and yet this was the fact but in ap- 
pearance, for it was by their meek submission to tortures, 
by yielding their lives to seal their testimony, that they 
overcame. They were conquerors through the ' unresisti- 
ble might of weakness,' for they loved not their lives to 
the death. 

* " The vision of the war in heaven in the Apocalypse repre- 
sents the vehement struggle between Christianity and the old idol- 
atry in the first ages of the gospel. The angels of the two oppos- 
ing armies represent the two opposing parties in the Roman state, 
at the time which the vision more particularly regards. Michael's 
angels are the party which espoused the side of the Christian re- 
ligion, the friends of which had, for many years, been numerous, 
and became very powerful under Constantine the Great, the first 
Christian emperor : the Dragon's angels are the party which en- 
deavored to support the old idolatry." — Horsley's Sermons^ p. 373. 

t It is probable that the Spirit of inspiration designed to convey 
an allusion to this memorable conflict in the words of Faul, Eph. 
6: 12, ' For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against prin- 
cipalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this 
world, against spiritual wickedness in high places, {tv roig firovnuvioig 
— in heavenly places).' Perhaps also the vision of the prophet af- 
fords the genuine clew to the designation of the adversary in Kph. 
2: 2. ' Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of 
this world, according to the prince of the po^cer of the air ;' i. e. the 
leader and commander of this mystic aerial or heavenly host. 



72 THE MILLENNIUM. 

At length the protracted contest sees an end. The per- 
secuting power of the Roman Empire, like Saul on his 
way to Damascus, is arrested in mid-career, and made 
obedient to a heavenly vision. Constantine the emperor, 
becomes a converted Christian. The rage of persecution 
ceases. The fires of martyrdom are extinguished. The 
streams of Christian blood are stanched ; and the laws of 
the empire, before replete with sanguinary enactments 
against the Christians, are now disarmed of their bloody 
statutes, and henceforward breathe nothing but peace and 
protection towards the church. The idols of heathenism 
fall down from their niches, and its oracles, instinct with 
the promptings of the old serpent, are struck dumb. The 
altars of demons sink into the earth, and Christianity rises 
in her native majesty to the vacated throne of Paganism. 
This then was the identical result shadowed forth by the 
casting out of Satan or the Dragon from his supremacy in 
the hieroglyphic empyrean. Then did he fall like light- 
ning from heaven. Then rose the song of triumph among 
the ranks of the victors ; significant of the loud reverbera- 
tions of praise, of the din of triumphal ascription, of the 
hymnings of joy, exultation, and felicitation in the church 
on earth. In confirmation or illustration of this we have 
only to refer to the patristic writings of that period. Sure 
we are that no one can attentively scan their tenor without 
being struck with the tone of gratidation cmd triumph 
which pervades them. He has but to consult the works of 
Eusebius and Lactantius to be convinced that some illus- 
trious theme of joy had kindled their eucharistic strains to 
the highest note. The church catholic appears to be vocal 
with thanksgiving and the voice of melody. With one ac- 
cord they appear to have adopted the language of restored 
Israel : '' When the Lord turned again the captivity of 
Zion, we were like them that dream ; then was our mouth 
filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing." 



THE MILLENNIUM. 73 

The following translated extract from a laudatory letter 
of Lactantius to Constantine may serve as a specimen of 
innumerable passages which might be cited from his own 
and the works of his contemporaries. 

"Nine times subjected to various tortures, nine times 
hast thou conquered the adversary by a glorious confession. 
After warring in nine conflicts with the Devil and his sat- 
ellites, thou hast in nine victories triumphed over the world 
with its terrors. How pleasing a spectacle was it to God 
when he beheld thee conqueror, not subjecting milk-white 
horses, or huge elephants to thy chariot, but victors them- 
selves. This is a genuine triumph when conquerors are 
conquered. For such by thy virtue are effectually sub- 
dued ; inasmuch as having trampled upon all unhallowed 
domination thou hast, by a stable faith and unconquered 
mind, put to flight the whole formidable array of despotic 
power." 

Indeed it would seem that in the very age of Constantine, 
and by Constantine himself, this amazing revolution was 
regarded as a fulfilment of the prediction before us ; for, 
as that emperor after his conversion ceased to be a constit- 
uent member and minister of the mystical Dragon, but vigo- 
rously fought against him in the person of his adherents, it 
is remarkable that in a letter to Eusebius he says: " But 
now when liberty is restored, and that Dragon, hy the 
'providence of the great God and our ministry cast out from 
the administration of public affairs, the divine potency has 
most manifestly appeared to all men."* It is related 
moreover by the ecclesiastical historian above mentioned, 
that on a lofty tablet set up over the gate of his palace, visi- 
ble to every eye, Constantine himself was represented with 
a cross over his head, and under his feet ' the great enemy 

* Tov Sgoiy.ovTog fHfivov ano rrjg tojv xolvojv dioiy-ijaecog, 

Tov Otov fAsytarov nQovola, ^i}itiiqa 8s vjiegtiaicc, ixdLMX&svTog, 
Eus. de Vita Const. 1. 2. c.46. 

7 



THE MILLENNIUM, 



of mankind, who persecuted the church by means of impi- 
ous tyrants, in the form of a Dragon; transfixed through 
the body with a dart, and falling into the depths of the sea ; 
' in allusion,' he adds, ' to the fact, that the divine oracles 
m the books of the prophets denominate that evil spirit the 
Dragon and the Crooked Serpent* 

The following passage from the Historian of the Decline 
and Fall, so often an unwitting and unwilling expositor of 
the Apocalypse, may be advantageously cited in this con- 
nection : " The assurance that the elevation of Constaji- 
tine was intimately connected with the designs of Provi- 
dence, instilled into the minds of the Christians two opin- 
ions, which, by very different means, assisted the accom- 
plishment of the prophecy. Their warm and active loyal- 
ty exhausted in his fiivor every resource of human industry ; 
and they confidently expected that their strenuous efforts 
would be seconded hy some divine and miraculous aicV'i 
" Nazarius and Eusebius are the two most celebrated ora- 
tors, who in studied panegyrics have labored to exalt the 
glory of Constantine. Nine years after the Roman victory, 
Nazarius describes an army of divine warriors icJio seemed 
to fall from the sky : he marks their beauty, their spirit, 
their gigantic forms, the stream of light which beamed 
from their celestial armor, their patience in suflfering them- 
selves to be heard, as well as seen, by mortals; and their 
declaration that they were sent, that they flew, to the as- 
sistance of the great Constantine. For the truth of this 
great prodigy, the pagan orator appeals to the whole Gal- 
lic nation, in whose presence he was then speaking ; and 
seems to hope that the ancient apparitions would now ob- 

* ~~,^^!^ ^^ ^X^Qov xal nolf^lov &i]Qu, rhv t^v eyyXy'jaiav xov 
-^iov Siaxr^q Torv udfCtv noXioqyir^aavxa iv^uvvi8og,—iv doa- 
xovTog fiogq)?).— Id. 1. 3. c. 3. ^ 

t Decline and Fall, p. 294. 



THE MILLENNIUM. 75 

tain credit from this recent and public event."* "The 
gratitude of the church has exalted the virtues and excused 
the failings of a generous patron, who seated Christianity 
on the throne of the Roman world ; and the Greeks, who 
celebrate the festival of the imperial saint, seldom mention 
the name of Constantine without adding the title of equal 
to the apostles. If the parallel be confined to the extent and 
number of their evangelic victories, the success of Constan- 
tine might perhaps equal that of the apostles themselves. 
By the edicts of toleration he removed the tem.poral disad- 
vantages which had hitherto retarded the progress of Chris- 
tianity ; and its active and numerous ministers received a 
free permission, a liberal encouragement, to recommend 
the salutary truths of revelation by every argument which 
could affect the reason or piety of mankind."! 

" He was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast 
out with him." These words are thus explained by Tertul- 
lian : " Nam daemonia magistratus sunt seculi hujus" — 
for the demons are the magistrates of this world. As the 
Dragon himself has a more special reference to the person 
of the Pagan Roman emperors, the subordinate magistrates 
are unquestionably denoted by his angels. " The fall of 
the empire," says Daubuz, "out of the hands of the Hea- 
thens soon made all the inferior officers, civil and military, 
as also the religious dignities, to fall out of their power. 
Yet this was not done on a sudden, but by progress : how- 
ever, it is the custom of the Holy Ghost to account anything 

* Decline and Fall, p. 297. 

t Decline and Fall, p. 299. The whole of Gibbon's 21st chapter 
contains a striking undesigned commentary upon this vision of the 
Apocalypse. Indeed the Christian church has afforded few expos- 
itors of the Book of Revelation so valuable as Gibbon. We shall 
therefore make great use of his work in our attempted exposition. 
Like Balaam he is made to bless, while his own spirit prompts hira 
to curse. 



76 THE MILLENNIUM. 

done, for the most part, as soon as it is begun ; tlie little 
time it lasts in doing being accounted as nothing. When 
the emperors were no more heathens, the idolatrous magis- 
trates were in a great measure removed, and the priests 
had no more power to do mischief. It (the mischief) only 
extended where the Dragon and his angels were thrown, 
that is, upon ' the earth,' upon the .mbjccts of the Roman 
empire, who are still their votaries : the ' earth' having that 
signification ; the Christians, unless corrupted, never bear- 
ing that title. The idolatrous rcUgion only remained in the 
subjects or common peoplv.''* This is what is to be under- 
stood by the Dragon's being ' cast out into the earth.' The 
scene of his operations was to be shifted. He had formerly 
been the ruling spirit of the pagan governments of the world, 
and of the Roman in particular, but now, being ejected 
from his imperial ascendency, the great mass of the people 
of the empire, represented by the * earth,' became the sub- 
jects of his diabolical plots. It is in the prospective view 
of this that the heavenly host is represented as announcing 
his disastrous advent to the earth. " Woe to the inhabitants 
of the earth and the sea, for the devil is come down unto 
you, having great wrath, because he knoweth he hath but a 
short time." " The earth and the sea," says the commen- 
tator above quoted, " signify the subjects of the pagan em- 
pire both in })eace and war, the common people and the 
soldiery. Many of them were still idolaters ; as appears 
sufficiently by their canonizing their emperors, though 
Christians. Many of them seemed indeed to turn Chris- 
tian, but not sincerely ; either they secretly observed the 
pagan rites, or else brought their paganism into the church 
and corrupted it. However, the Devil played still his 
pranks among them while they continued to be votaries. 
It was but small power and dominion compared with the 

* Daubuz' Perpet. Comment, p. 532. 



THE MILLENNIUM. 77 

imperial power, but still it was some dominion ; and he had 
, rather play at small game than none at all. All this de- 
notes that the idolatry would not be so far expelled sud- 
denly, but that it would still remain amongst a great num- 
ber of the subjects."* 

'' The accuser of our brethren is cast down." The Drag- 
on, as we have remarked, is the personified spirit of civil 
oppression and idolatrous delusion combined. As such, 
his grand aim has ever been to render the people of God, 
the seed of the woman, obnoxious to the civil power, and 
upon the pretence of their being enemies to the governments, 
laws, and institutions under which they lived, to point the 
sword of magistracy against them. The allusion is perhaps 
primarily to the history of Job, against whom the foulest ac- 
cusations were brought by Satan, prompted by the pure 
diabolism of his nature, and to the instance related, Zech. 
3: 1, where the prophet says : ' And he showed me Joshua 
the high-priest standing before the Angel of the Lord, and 
Satan standing at his right hand to resist him.'t But the 
character was made good and the symbol accomplished in 
repeated instances in the events of the sacred history both 
under the Old and the New Testament. How copiously 
the Dragon, through his Egyptian head, expectorated the 
venom of his vile detraction upon the unoffending Israel- 
ites, and what grinding oppression he brought upon them 
by this means, is obvious from the Mosaic narrative. The 
following passages, moreover, are strikingly illustrative of 
the same spirit of malignant defamation against the inno- 
cent. Ezra 4: 12 — 16, ' Be it known now unto the king, 
that the Jews which came up from thee to us are come un- 
to Jerusalem, building the rebellious and the bad city, and 

* Perpet. Comment, p. 536. 

t The literal meaning of the original Greek word rendered devil 
(Sid^oXog) is slanderer, traducer, false accuser. 



78 THE MILLENNIUM. 

have set up the walls thereof, and joined the foundations. 
— Now because we have maintenance from the king's pal- 
ace, and it was not meet for us to see the king's dishonor, 
therefore have we sent and certified the king ; That search 
may be made in the book of the records of thy fathers ; so 
shalt thou find in the book of the records, and know that 
this city is a rebellious city, and hurtful unto kings and 
provinces, and that they have moved sedition within the 
same of old time : for which cause was this city destroyed.' 
Again, Est. 3: 8, ' And Haman said unto king Ahasuerus, 
There is a certain people scattered abroad, and dispersed 
among the people in all the provinces of thy kingdom : and 
their laws are diverse from all people, neither keep they the 
king's laws: therefore it is not for the king's profit to suf- 
fer them. If it please the king, let it be written that they 
be destroyed.' Acts IG: 20, 21 , ' And brought them to the 
magistrates, saying, These men being Jews do exceedingly 
trouble our city, and teach customs which are not lawful 
for us to receive, neither to observe, being Romans.' 
Acts 17: 6, 7, ' These that have turned the world upside 
down are come hither also ; Whom Jason hath received : 
and these all do contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying 
that there is another king, one Jesus.' How plainly do we 
hear the hissings of the Old Serpent in these accusations ! 
But it was at a later period of the church that the Dra- 
gon more signally evinced himself to be entitled to this 
character. Ecclesiastical history makes it evident that the 
vilest calumnies were cast upon the primitive Christians, 
upon which their persecutors professed to ground the jus- 
tice of the punishments so mercilessly inflicted upon them. 
They were accused of cannibalism, incest, adultery, mur- 
der, conspiracy, and of being the procuring causes of all 
the plagues, famines, and fires which desolated any part of 
the empire. *' The surprise of the Pagans," says Gibbon, 
"was soon succeeded by resentment; and the most pious 



THE MILLENNIUM. 79 

of men were exposed to the unjust but dangerous imputa- 
tion of impiety. Malice and prejudice concurred in rep- 
resenting the Christians as a society of atheists, who, by 
the most daring attack upon the religious constitution of 
the empire, had merited the severest animadversion of the 
civil magistrate. Their mistaken prudence afforded an 
opportunity for malice to invent, and for suspicious credu- 
lity to believe, the horrid tales which described the Chris- 
tians as the most wicked of human kind, who practised in 
their dark recesses every abomination that a depraved fan- 
cy could suggest, and who solicited the favor of their un- 
known God by the sacrifice of every moral virtue. There 
were many who pretended to confess or to relate the cere- 
monies of this abhorred society. It was asserted, that a 
new-born infant, entirely covered over with flour, was pre- 
sented, like some mystic symbol of initiation, to the knife 
of the proselyte, who unknowingly inflicted many a secret 
and mortal wound on the innocent victim of his error ; 
that as soon as the cruel deed was perpetrated, the secta- 
ries drank up the blood, greedily tore asunder the quiver- 
ing members, and pledged themselves to eternal secrecy, 
by a mutual consciousness of guilt. It was as confidently 
afiirmed that this inhuman sacrifice was succeeded by a 
suitable entertainment, in which intemperance served as a 
provocative to brutal lust, till, at the appointed moment, 
the lights were suddenly extinguished, shame was banished, 
nature was forgotten, and, as accident might direct, the 
darkness of the night was polluted by the incestuous com- 
merce of sisters and brothers, of sons and mothers."* 
The conversion of Constantine and the downfall of Pagan- 
ism, was the signal for the silencing of these shameless 
slanders, and accordingly Lactantius, in an epistle to the 
emperor, says: — "Whence they form the most execrable 
opinions respecting the chaste and the innocent, and give 
* DeclTai^^Fall, p. 208. 



80 THE MILLENNIUM. 

an easy belief to the fictions which they fabricate. But 
all these false charges, most sacred emperor, are laid to 
rest since the high God raised thee up to restore the habi- 
tation of righteousness, and to the guardianship of the hu- 
man race ; under whose government of the Roman state 
we are no longer accounted as impious and abominable, 
but as the worshippers of God."* 

" And to the woman were given two wings of a great 
eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness," etc. ' Wings,' 
the instruments of motion, answer in prophecy the super- 
added purpose of standinoj as symbols of protection. This 
is plain from the following, among numerous other passa- 
ges. Ruth 2: 12, ' The Lord recompense thy work, and 
a full reward be given thee of the Lord God of Israel, un- 
der whose wings thou art come to trust.'' Ps. 17: 8, ' Keep 
me as the apple of the eye, hide me under the shadow of thy 
wings.^ Ps. 57: 1, ^ In the shadoio of thy wings will I 
make my refuge, until these calamities be overpast.' Ps. 
63: 7, ' Because thou hast been my help, therefore in the 
shadow of thy wings will I rejoice.' The imagery is man- 
ifestly derived from the history in Exodus where the so- 
journ of the Israelites in the wilderness from the face of 
the Egyptians is described very much after the same man- 
ner as the withdrawment of the woman into the spiritual 
wilderness from the face of the serpent. Ex. 19: 4, ' Ye 
have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare 
you on eagles' wings and brought you unto myself This 
is enlarged upon, Deut. 32: 11, 12, * As an eagle stirreth 



* Unde etlam quasdam execrabiles opiniones de pudicis, et in- 
nocentibus fingunt, et libentur his, quae finxerunt, credunt. Sed 
omnia jam, sanctissime imperator, figmenta sopita sunt, ex quo te 
Deus Suminus ad restituenduni justitiae domicilium, et ad lutelam 
generis humani excitavit. Quo gubernante RonianfE Reipublicce 
statum, jam cultores Dei pro sceleratis ac nefariis non habemur. — 
Lact. Inst. L, VII. c. 2G. 



THE MILLENNIUM. 81 

up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad 
her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings ; so 
the Lord alone did lead him, and there was no strange 
God with him.' As the 'eagle' is a symbol frequently 
used in the Scriptures to denote a monarchy or a king, 
and as the eagle, the bird of Jove, formed the Roman stan- 
dard, we seem to be directed, by the necessity of the sym- 
bol, to understand it of the Roman Empire subsisting in 
its two grand divisions, the Eastern and Western, and in 
this form spreading the wings of its imperial patronage 
over the church guarding it from visible persecution, dur- 
ing the interval between the fall of Paganism and the rise 
of Antichristianism in the sixth or seventh century. 

But the drift of the emblem undoubtedly involves the idea 
of transition as well as of tutelage, and leads us to seek for 
some kind of recess or withdrawment on the part of the 
true church from the more central, prominent, and con- 
spicuous station which she had hitherto occupied. The 
explication of this part of the mystical scenery given by 
Vitrinora,* is entitled to a hiorh decree of consideration. 
He is of opinion that the emblem was designed to shadow 
forth a literal migration of a large portion of the church, 
or a transfer of the seat of its primitive triumphs, from the 
eastern quarters of the empire, where it hitherto principally 
flourished, to the then barbarous and uncultivated climes of 
western and northwestern Europe, especially France, Spain, 
Germany, England, Holland, Bohemia, Hungary and Den- 
mark, where it was destined to find a permanent though af- 
flicted establishment during the period of the grand apos- 
tacy under the reign of the Beast. Accordingly we learn 
from the ecclesiastical annals of that and the subsequent 
ages, that by the peculiar providence of God, a line of faith- 
ful witnesses for the truth was preserved, especially in the 
retired and peaceful valleys of Piedmont and Dauphiny, 
* Anacrisis Apocalypseos, p. 550. 



82 



THE MILLENNIUM. 



where the far-famed churches of the Waldenses and Albi- 
genses continued for more than twelve centuries the con- 
servators of the unadukerated faith of the apostles,* The 
protection indicated by the eagle's wings is to be consid- 
ered as having been afforded more especially at the com- 
mencement of this long period, while the woman was in 
the act of flying into the wilderness ; for after she had be- 
come firmly established in her desert abode, she became 
the object of the persecuting rage both of the civil and eccle- 
siastical power of the apostate church. It was therefore 
by the peculiar interposition of heaven that this mystic wo- 
man of the wilderness was protected and 'nourished' in 
her lonely dwelling place. A succession of faithful pas- 
tors was raised up to minister the spiritual aliment of the 
gospel to these eremite churches, embosomed in their Al- 
pine glens, during the whole prophetical period of the 
'time, times, and half a time,' or 12G0 years, when the oc- 
currence of the Reformation gave them a door of egress 
from their obscurity, and they became merged in the great 
body of Protestant believers. 

'* And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood 
after the woman," etc. Of the import of seas, rivers, and 
water-floods as a prophetic symbol we have an inspired ex- 
position in the words of the hierophaniic angel. Rev. 17: 
15, ' And he saith unto me. The waters which thou sawest 
where the whore sitteth, arc peoples, and multitudes, and 
nations, and tongues.'' This is confirmed by the usage of 
the ancient prophets. Is. 8: 7, 'Now therefore, behold, 



*• The Vaudois are in fact descended from those refugees from 
Italy, who, after St. Paul had there preached the Gospel, aban- 
doned their beautiful country, and fled, like the woman mentioned 
in the Apocalypse, to these wild mountains, where they have to 
this day handed down the Gospel from father to son in the same 
purity and simplicity as it was preached by St. Paul." — Pref. to 
Arnaud's Glorious Recocerij, p. 13, 14, 



THE MILLENNIUM. 83 

the Lord bringeth up upon them the waters of the river, 
strong and many, even the king of Assyria and all his 
glory.' This is plainly the annunciation of a warlike ex- 
pedition which under the conduct of the King of Assyria 
should overflow the land. Is. 28: 2, ' Behold the Lord 
hath a mighty and strong one, which as a tempest of hail 
and a destroying storm, as di Jlood of mighty waters over- 
flowing, shall cast down to the earth with the hand;' thus 
explained by the Targum, which is of great value in the 
explication of prophetic symbols : — ' Sicut impetus aqua- 
rum fortium inundantium, sic venient contra eos populi, 
et transferent eos de terra sua' — Like the violence of migh- 
ty overflowing fl,oods shall peoples come against them and 
remove them from their own land. To the same effect Jer- 
emiah ch. 46: 7, 8, says, ' Who is this that cometh up as a 
flood, whose waters are moved as the river 1 Egypt riseth 
up like a flood, and his waters are moved like the rivers; 
and he saith, I will go up and will cover the earth ; I will 
destroy the city and the inhabitants thereof Again, in 
Dan. 9: 26, ' a flood ' is expressly interpreted as equiva- 
lent to ' war.' ' And the end thereof shall be with a flood, 
and unto the end of the tvar desolations are determined.' 
The river-flood therefore, sent forth from the mouth of 
the Dragon to drown the woman, signifies beyond question 
the invasion of the territories of Christendom or the Ro- 
man empire by numerous armies of foreign nations, whose 
assault was in some manner instigated by the malice of the 
Pagan party, the ministers of the Dragon. The figurative 
prediction was accomplished when the hordes of barbarous 
nations from the north of Europe, the Goths, Alans, Suevi, 
and Vandals, by the secret treachery of Stilicho, prime 
minister to the emperor Honorius, were invited to pour 
themselves down in desolating torrents upon the southern 
provinces of the empire. But what was the result of the 
incursions made by these rude and ruthless barbarians ? 



84 THE MILLENNIUM. 

' The earth,' says the prophet, ' helped the woman, and 
the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood 
which the dragon cast out of his mouth.' That is, these 
barbarian and pagan nations were absorbed into the origi- 
nal population of the Roman provinces. They not only 
embraced their religion, but affected the laws, manners, 
customs, language, and even name of Romans, so that they 
were in effect conipletely merged in the vanquished nation. 
Instead of sweeping away the Christian church, they event- 
ually fell into the ranks of her nominal supporters, and 
thus contributed to prolong and perpetuate her existence. 
" The progress of Christianity," says Gibbon^*' has been 
marked by two glorious and decisive victories : over the 
learned and luxurious citizens of the Roman empire ; and 
over the warlike barbarians of Scythia and Germany, who 
subverted the empire, and embraced the religion, of the 
Romans. The formidable Visigoths universally adopted 
the religion of the Romans, with whom they maintained a 
perpetual intercourse of war, of friendship, or of conquest. 
During the same period, Christianity was embraced by al- 
most all the barbarians who established their kingdoms on 
the ruins of the western empire; the Burgundians in Gaul, 
the Suevi in Spain, the Vandals in Africa, the Ostrogoths 
in Pannonia, and the various bands of mercenaries that 
raised Odoacer to the throne of Italy."* " In the course of 
a very few years," says Mr. Faber, " the religion of Christ 
had more or less pervaded the whole Roman empire. Suc- 
ceeding events seemed to threaten if not its absolute ex- 
tinction, yet, at least, its contraction within its original 
narrow limits. But the result was very opposite of what, 
by political sagacity, might reasonably have been antici- 
pated. The religion of the conquering Gotlis ivas, in every 
instance, nationally abandoned ; the religion of the con- 

Decl. and Fall, p. COO, 610. 



THE MILLENNIUM. 85 

quered Romans was in every instance nationally adopted. 
Some of the northern warriors might be earlier, and some 
might be later proselytes: hut the ultimate universal con- 
comitant of Gothic national invasion was Gothic national 
conversion.'''' 

" And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went 
to make war with the remnant of her seed," etc. The 
course of our preceding exposition has conducted us in 
tracing the history of despotic and idolatrous oppression 
from its earliest origin down to the time of the public and 
incipient suppression of Paganism, A. D. 320, and for the 
space of one or two centuries beyond. The Dragon or the 
Devil was now ejected from his strongholds ; he was cast 
from heaven to earth ; but his draconic nature still re- 
mained. He was urged on by the same desperate and 
fiendish malignity as ever against the true sons of freedom, 
the inheritors of that legacy of civil and evangelic liberty 
which the Saviour bequeathed to his followers. He was 
still wroth with the woman, and intent upon warring with 
the remnant of her seed. But it had now become neces- 
sary for him to change the mode of his warfare. The en- 
tire Roman empire, forming the principal part of the civilr 
ized world, having now assumed a Christian phasis, he felt 
himself compelled to modify his persecuting tactics so as 
to adapt them to the new circumstances in which he was 
placed. Accordingly, finding the Roman world become 
Christian, he determines to become Christian too, and un- 
der the name and semblance of Christianity to uproot the 
very life and being of that divine religion from the earth. 
He lays, therefore, one of his deepest, and foulest, and 
most devilish plots ; a stratagem redolent of the Serpent, 
and insthict with the profoundest policies of hell. This is 
represented as consisting in a kind of symbolical metem- 
psychosis or transmigration, in which the Dragon becomes 

8 



86 THE MILLENNIUM. 

the actuating spirit of another scarcely less baneful power. 
Conscious of being forced to withdraw in his own proper 
person from the scene in which he had so long reigned 
* lord of the ascendant,' he resolves upon protruding upon 
the vacated stage another agent who should act as his vice- 
gerent, and into whom he determines to transfuse the full 
measure of his own Satanic spirit and genius. This was 
no other than the seven-headed and ten-horned Beast that 
arose out of the sea. It is through him as an instrument 
that he resolves to prosecute his war against the woman's 
seed. We may imagine therefore the Dragon of Pagan- 
ism, when bafled in liis previous designs, walking, like the 
hero of the Iliad, silent and thoughtful on the shore of the 
loud-sounding deep, or rather, perhaps, since the ' sea ' in 
the Apocalypse is the symbol of multitudes of men in a 
state of commotion, as plunging into its abysses, and there 
secretly busying himself in gitting up and sending forth 
this his portentous substitute, destined to supply his lack 
of disastrous service in working woe to the nations. ** And 
I stood upon the sand of the sea, and I saw a beast rise up 
out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon 
his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the names of 
blasphemy. And the dragon gave him his power, and his 
seat (^^ovov — throne), and great authority." Here is the 
act of abdication on the Dragon's part, and of investiture on 
that of the Beast. The Beast therefore acts by a delegated 
power. He comes forth as the commissioned organ and 
agent of the prime originator of moral and political ill to 
the nations of Christendom. This is no other than the 
same Roman empire metamorphosed into a nominally 
Christian dominion, and subsisting in its decem-regal form, 
when divided and split up into ten independent sovereign- 
ties, though still preserving an ecclesiastical unity, out of 
which arose the present dominant kingdoms of Europe, 



THE MILLENNIUM. 87 

who are said to have agreed, at an early period, to give 
their power to the Beast.* 

It would be altogether beside our present purpose to en- 
ter upon a detailed exposition of the allegorical Beast, the 
symbol of the collective body of the present leading Euro- 
pean dynasties. We advert to the emblem only so far as 
may be necessary to illustrate the character, actions or 
fortunes of his predecessor, the Dragon. It may be pro- 
per, however, to observe, that a prophetic limitation of the 
reign of the Beast is undoubtedly contained in the com- 
pass of the Revelation. Those upon whom his brutal and 
bestial violence, his grinding and wasting oppression was 
specially to fall, were to be given into his hand ' until a 
time, times, and half a time,' or for the space of 1260 
years ;t and though the precise epoch of the commence- 

* Thus Horace, speaking of the Roman people, says : 
' Bellua niultorum es capitum." 

t " The original word which we translate a time, properly signi- 
fies any stated, fixed, or appointed tinne or season. Jt is, therefore, 
made use of, Lev. 23: 4, to denote those annual feasts which were 
every year fixed to one stated periodical revolution. And therefore 
may be understood in that place to signify the time of the periodical 
revolutions of the annual festivals, or a year; and accordingly 
the prophet Daniel, ch. 4: 16. 23: 25, makes use of the expression 
oi seven times to denote seven years. And therefore in ch. 11: 13, 
Daniel in order to explain it, says the king of the north shall cer- 
tainly return, and shall come at the end of times ^ even years ; as it 
is in the original, though we translate it, after certain years. And 
Justin Martyr, in his dialogue with Trypho the Jew, remarks, that 
the Rabbins understood the word time to denote a year, according 
to the language of the prophets. So that, according to this inter- 
pretation, a time., times, and half a time, or one year added to two 
years and a half, will be three years and a half. And as a Jewish 
year is supposed to consist of twelve months ; and each month of 
thirty days, then a time., times .and half a time, or three -times 
and a half, will be equivalent to 12(50 days ; as we shall find it 
exactly computed to be, when we come to inquire into the Revela 



yy THE MILLENNIUM. 

ment of that period may be difficult to be determined, yet 
we cannot err very widely in fixing it between the years 
450 and GOO ; and in a matter of this nature to come with- 
in a century of the truth may be considered a sufficient 
approximation for all important purposes. Consequently, 
that we are now actually arrived at the very borders of 
that period which is to be signalized by the winding up 
of the grand despotic drama that has been for ages enact- 
ing in transatlantic Christendom, there cannot be the 
shadow of a reasonable doubt. It is only in this fiict that 
we find an adequate solution of the phenomena which are 
now displaying themselves on so broad a scale in the po- 
litical he;ivens and earth of the eastern continent. These 
commotions are to be reorarded in no other light than as 
an incipient fulfilment of the inspired oracles, predicting 
the utter downfall of every system of government and re- 
ligion which wars upon the liberties of mankind. We 
have in the disclosures of this book a genuine clew to the 
recent agitations of all the monarchical states ; agitations 
arising solely from the efforts of the mass of the people to 
struggle into the assertion of their native rights, as the an- 
cients fabled the earthquakes to be occasioned by the at- 
tempts of the imprisoned giants to throw off the superin- 
cumbent mountains heaped upon them. 

The peculiar manner in which the foregoing interpre- 
tation is made to bear upon the subject of the Millen- 
nium will be more fully disclosed in the sequel. At present 
we advert for a moment to the only plausible objection 
which, as far as we are able to perceive, can be urged 
against the construction put in the preceding pages upon 
the twelfth chapter of the Apocalypse. 

lion of St. John, where a time^ times, and half a time is mentioned 
as a space of lime equivalent io forty-tioo months, or one thousand 
tico hundred and sixty days.'" — Clayton., Bish. of Cloghers Dissert. 
on Propk. p. 79. 



THE MILLENNIUM. 0\9 

As the charge given to John in the outset of the mystical 
visions of this book is thus worded, — " Write the things 
which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the 
things which shall be hereafter," — it may be said, that this 
division of the contents of the Revelation into the two great 
branches of things present and things future, necessarily 
forbids the application of any of the symbols to events that 
were long since passed at the time of the writing of the 
book, and consequently that our interpretation of the sym- 
bol of the Dragon, which we have carried up to the re- 
motest ages of antiquity, must necessarily be at variance 
with the acknowledged structure of the apostle's prophecy. 
In reply to this objection, we readily admit that as a gene- 
ral character of the Apocalypse this division is plainly ob- 
served ; the first three chapters, containing the epistles to 
the seven churches, having a primary reference to the 
things which then were, while the subsequent portions of 
the book are occupied mainly with the prospective devel- 
opment of the leading fates of the church and the world. 
But we are not prepared to admit the assumption, that 
nothing but prophetic matter can be introduced into a pro- 
phetic vision. For what was the case with Daniel ? Did 
he behold the rise of the Roman empire prospectively 
when he beheld the emergence of its symbol in the fourth 
beast from the troubled sea ? Far from it. He beheld it 
retrospectively , as his vision of the four great beasts was 
vouchsafed to him about the year before Christ 555; 
but Rome was founded, according to Varro, in the 
year before Christ 753 ; so that the prophet, if we reckon 
from the time when he saw this vision, must have beheld the 
rise of the Roman beast retrospectively, though he viewed 
his exploits through the period of 1260 years prospectively. 
In like manner, we consider the vision in the chapter be- 
fore us as having at once a retrospective and a prospective 
bearing, in which respect it forms an exception to the 
8* 



90 THE MILLENNIUM. 

general tissue of the res prophctica of the book ; and, we 
believe, the only exception. But as the main scope of the 
Holy Spirit in this part of the visions was to acquaint us 
with the origin, the reign, and the overthrow of the Beast, 
nothing could be more natural than to trace the symbolical 
extraction of the Beast from the Dragon his predecessor, 
and if the Dragon were introduced at all, it was equally 
natural that the symbol should be so constructed as to em- 
brace the whole term of his hieroglyphic existence, however 
far back into former ages it might reach. The truth is, if 
the view which we have given of the intended mutual rela- 
tion of the Dragon and the Beast of the Apocalypse be well 
founded, and admitted by the reader, the objection above 
stated can occasion no real difficulty. The fact which it 
contemplates is precisely such as might be expected. Nor 
will a single exception militate with the general uniformity 
of character by which the oracles of the Apocalypse are 
marked. One or two reflections may not unsuitably con- 
clude the present division of our work. 

1. The train of remark submitted to the reader in the 
foregoing exposition may have the effect, it is presumed, 
of deepening the conviction, that the religion of the Bible 
is no foe to civil freedom ; that it can never be made, with- 
out the most flagrant perversion, the pandor to oppression 
in any sense or in any degree. That Christianity has 
been made, by abuse, an engine of the most dire and dia- 
bolical persecution is unhappily put beyond the possibili- 
ty of being questioned. The history of the ages of dark- 
ness furnishes a dreary and soul-sickening record of the 
fact. But that this circumstance affords the least argu- 
ment of the legitimate tendencies of the gospel of Jesus 
cannot be maintained for a moment. The true and essen- 
tial genius of Christianity repudiates with mortal abhor- 
rence every alliance with civil power which would convert 
her into an engine of disastrous domination. Can the mys- 



THE MILLENNIUM* 91 

tica] woman of the vision fall in love with the terrific Dra- 
gon by whom she is assaulted ? Are they not set in the 
most direct antagonism with each other ? And under this 
significant imagery is not the brandmark of eternal repro- 
bation set upon the entire apparatus of despotism ? Is not 
its final overthrow, its utter extinction, clearly predicted 
in the oracles of the prophets ? — and that too as an indis- 
pensable prerequisite to the final prevalence of the Gos- 
pel? How then can Christianity be friendly to or compati- 
ble with a system upon the ruins of which it is destined to 
rise, and the annihilation of which is the signal of its own 
success ? The truth is, the spirit of Christianity is not 
more opposed to vice than it is to vassalage ; to moral 
corruption than to political degradation. 

2. Shall not a more favorable impression be begotten in 
behalf of Christianity from the fact, that it contemplates 
man not merely in his individual, but in his social capaci- 
ties and interests ? — that in the amplitude of its beneficence 
it takes cognizance of those great and massive calamities 
which weigh upon the welfare of society ; which have en- 
cumbered and retarded the march of the human mind ; 
which have hung their ponderous weights upon the wheels 
of its progress ; — in a word, that it abounds with predic- 
tions and promises, not only of the removal of those evils 
which encompass and annoy the individual believer, but 
of those also which have been the most signal curses to 
the communities of the earth ? We repeat it then, that we 
are authorized to regard in the light of the accomplish- 
ment of the divine counsels the existing commotions 
which are causing the dynasties of Europe to totter on 
their rotten bases, and which are prompting the monarchs 
to clap their hands to their heads to hold on their crowns. 
Potentates are perplexed by the signs in heaven and the 
signs on earth. But why 1 Simply because God has illus- 
triously arisen, and begun to show to the world that the 



92 THE MILLENNIUM. 

Gospel is the Genius of Universal Emancipation. The 
human race is awakening to the conviction, that there is 
not a throne on earth but is built upon the prostrate liber- 
ties of mankind ; and kings have cause to tremble at the 
results of the discovery. It is for this reason that they 
dread to refer themselves to ' the coming on of time.' 
" Coming events cast their shadows before," and they are 
filled with secret apprehensions of an impending stroke 
which shall fall with resistless weight upon the coronets of 
despots, and scatter their diamonds in the dust. It is then 
to the pages of this precious revelation that we are to look 
for a key to the signs of the times ; for a solution of all 
the marvels connected with that magnus ordo rerum, that 
stupendous moral and political revolution, which is so rap- 
idly changing the face of human affairs, and introducing the 
indestructible empire of righteousness. It is on this ac- 
count only that we deem the explication of the hierogly- 
phics of the Apocalypse as at all important. Viewed in 
any other light than as affording an index to the true char- 
acter of the period in which we live, and its connected du- 
ties, we might as well bestow our labor in laying before 
our readers, for the purpose of comment, the imagery of 
the Shield of Achilles, or of the Zodiac of Dendera, or 
the architectural details of Solomon's Temple. But when 
rightly construed, the mystic shadows of the Seer of Pat- 
mos resolve themselves, like the hand-writing on the walls 
of Belshazzar's palace, into the death-doom of despotism, 
and the Magna Charta of the liberties of the world. 



THE MILLENNIUM. 93 



CHAPTER IV. 

THE TRUE DOCTRINE OF THE MILLENNIUM STATED AND 
CONFIRMED. 

REVELATION, CHAP. XX. 

]. And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having 
the key of the bottomless i)it and a great chain in his hand. 
2. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is 
the Devil and Satan, and bound him a thousand years. 3. 
And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and 
set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no 
more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled : and after 
that he must be loosed a httle season. 4. And I saw thrones, 
and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them : 
and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the wit- 
ness of Jesus, and for the Vv'ord of God, and which had not 
worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received 
his mark in their foreheads, or in their hands ; and they lived 
and reigned with Christ a thousand years. 5. But the rest 
of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were 
finished. This is the first resurrection. 6. Blessed and holy 
is he that hath part in the first resurrection : on such the 
second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God 
and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years. 
7. And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be 
loosed out of his prison. 8. And shall go out to deceive the 
nations which are in the four quarters of tlie earth, Gog and 
Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of 
whom is as the sand of the sea. 9. And they went up on 
the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the 
saints about, and the beloved city : and fire came down from 
God out of heaven, and devoured them. 10. And the Devil 
that deceived them was cast into tJie lake of fire and brim- 
stone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall 
be tormented day and night for ever and ever. 

A fresh vision of the Dragon here opens upon us. We 
are now called to contemplate him in an ulterior stage of 



94 THE MILLENNIUM. 

degradation. In the allegorical narrative already consid- 
ered we have seen him discomfited in the contest with the 
celestial legions of Michael, and violently precipitated from 
heaven to earth. But, as if determined to avenge the ig- 
nominy of his defeat, we left him still plotting against the 
mystical Woman, aiming to compass her destruction by 
disemboguing a flood of waters from his mouth ; and, when 
baffled in this attempt, instituting a stupendous scheme of 
persecution against her seed through the instrumentality of 
the Beast, to whom he delivered up his seat and his power. 
From that time, it will be observed by the careful reader 
of the Apocalypse, the Dragon himself retires from the 
stage ; the scope of the prophetical visions being hence- 
forth occupied mainly with the pernicious doings and the 
retributive destiny of his seven-headed successor through 
the space of the seven ensuing chapters. In the close of 
the nineteenth, immediately preceding the portion which 
we have quoted, the final catastrophe of the secular impe- 
rial Beast and of the ecclesiastical False Prophet is ex- 
pressly detailed. *' And I saw the beast, and the kings of 
the earth (rather, ^ even the kings of the earth'), and their 
armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat 
on the horse, and against his army. And the beast was 
taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought mira- 
cles before him, with which he deceived them that had re- 
ceived the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped hLs 
image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire 
burning with brimstone." Having thus portrayed by these 
significant emblems the remediless doom of the Beast, and 
having consequently no more to say of him, the order of 
the visions is now reversed, and the prophet is carried back 
in the train of supernatural disclosure to the point where 
the history of the Dragon had been interrupted to make 
way for that of his vicegerent the Beast. In accordance 
with a feature of the sacred writings of incessant occur- 



THE MILLEXXILM. 95 

rence, in which events, whether historiccJly or symbolicaUy 
related, are transposed out of their just chronological or- 
der, the thread of tlie story is resumed and continued in 
the twentieth chapter.* The Dragon had acted a part 
too prominent and momentous to be so summarily dismiss- 
ed from among the actors of the mystical drama. Nor 
did his machinations by any means cease with his perso- 
nal withdrawment from the scene of his former exploits. 
Very important events, the effect of his procurement, were 
yet to be brought about ; and in order that a connected 
and unbroken view of his operations and his fates might 
be recorded for the benefit of the church, the symbolical 
history remounts to the period of his sending forth upon 
the territories of Christendom his bestial substitute, and 
embraces in the present vision all the chronological space 
between that and the time of his ultimate perdition, when 
he too is cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, to which 
the Beast and the False Prophet had been already adjudged. 
So that, in fact, the vision of the twentieth chapter of the 
Revelation is to be considered, as far as the events shad- 
owed forth are concerned, as connecting itself immediately 
with that of the twelfth ; and a more important clew to 

* It is a well-known and well-grounded maxim among the Jews, 
that " non est priiis et posterius in Scriptura." Thtir meaning in 
it is this, — that the order and place of a text as it stands in the Bi- 
ble doth not always infer or enforce the very time of the story, 
which the text relateth ; but that sometimes, — nay it occnrreth 
very oft. — stories are laid out of their natural and chronical place, 
and things are very frequently related before, which, in order of 
time, occurred after ; and so 'e contra.' Sot is this transposition 
and dislocation of times and texts proper to the evangelists only, — 
but the same Spirit that dictated both the Testaments, hath ob- 
served this course in both the TesiamenLs alike ; laying texts, 
chapter?, and histories out of the proper place in which, according 
to natural chronical order they would have lain." — Liglufoot's 
Works, vol. ii. p. Gl. 



96 THE MILLENNIUM. 

the genuine structure of this wonderful book cannot, we 
believe, be laid before the student of prophecy. 

In attempting, therefore, to fix the legitimate sense of the 
symbols here employed, the first position which we assume, 
and which, if we mistake not, will inevitably draw after it 
the whole interpretation that follows, is, the identity of the 
Dragon which is hound with the Dragon lohich was cast 
out of heaven. Unless this point be conceded in the outset, 
it will be in vain to hope ever to attain to a satisfactory so- 
lution of the prophetic enigmas of this book. If the Dragon 
or the Devil is to be regarded as a hieroglyphic in one por- 
tion of the Apocalypse, we aftirm that he is to be so viewed 
in every other portion ; otherwise we are left in the mazes 
of inextricable confusion in every attempt to unravel the 
mysteries which it contains.* But that this assumption, 

* " There is another thing which particuhirly deserves aUoiition, 
and winch, as it appears to me, must n»ateiially contribute to set- 
tle the question rehitive to the time of the vision : the power which 
is here described as chained, is denominated the Dr<igon ; but this 
is no new cliaracter ; and may we not from preceding scenes h^arn 
some of Ihe circumstances of liis history ? In the TJth chiipter lie 
is introduced and styled the Old Serpent, tiie Devil, and Satan ; 
and in tlie l<JUth he makes his appearance again, when precisely 
the same terms are eniployed to characterize this symbolical per- 
sonage ; the Dragon isTiiK Olo Serpknt,the Devil, and Satan. 
Must it not then be the same Dragon in both places ? Do we not 
find the same names, the same titles, and the same attributes ? And 
can it be supposed tijat the Spirit of prophecy would give the same 
description where the symboli.'al existence was not the same ? The 
term Dragon cannot have a literal signification, and when symbol- 
ically employed it must, on deliberate reflection, seem surprising 
that it should have two different sens(>s in the same book, com- 
posed by the sauie auti)or. JNothing but the supposed necessity of 
supporting a preconceived opinion could have been the origin of 
such an expedient. But the Dragon of the Apocalyptic Writer is 
the same symbolical personage wherever he appears. In the 12th 
chapter lie is represented as having seven heads and ten horns, 
with crowns on his heads. This, in the language of hieroglyphics, 



THE MILLENNIUM. ^ 97 

instead of resting on mere conjecture, is in fact based upon 
the unequivocal declarations of the sacred text, will be ob- 
vious from the bare inspection of the two following passa- 
ges, ranged in juxtaposition : 

Rev. XII. 9. Rev. xx. 2, 3. 

''And the great dragon was ''And he laid hold on the 
cast out, that old serpent, called dragon, that old serpent, which 
the Devil and Satan, which de- is the Devil and Satan, and 
ceiveth the whole world." bound him a thousand years — 

that he should deceive the na- 
tions no more." 

This must of necessity remove all doubt as to the perfect 
equivalency of the symbols in the two visions. If then, as 
we have endeavored to show, the term Dragon, Devil, or 

plainly expresses the Paganism of the Roman Empire. In another 
place, an interpreting angel informs us, that the ' seven heads are 
seven mountains,' on which mountains Rome was built; and in 
the chapter to which reference has just been made, a conflict is 
described between Michael and his angels, and the Dragon and his 
angels, the issue of which was that the Dragon was cast unto the 
earth. Now I am not aware that there is any difference of opinion 
among the interpreters of prophecy relative to this conflict. It is 
admitted, that in this contest, Paganism was overcome, was hurled 
from the seat of empire, was excluded from having any part in the 
management of public affairs, and finally the rabble of the Pantheon 
were exiled from the Roman territory. But according to commen- 
tators and the expositors of prophecy it would seem that the 
Dragon, on hi.s defeat, exile, and imprisonment, underwent an 
astonishing metamorphosis. The Dragon, acknowledged to be 
Paganism at his first appearance in the prophetic scenery, becomes 
the Devil personally, the Devil himself, the Prince of the power of 
the air. This certainly exhibits a strange latitude of interpreta- 
tion : but by what authority or on what grounds is this liberty 
taken ? Are there any canons or principles of interpretation which 
will sanction such a transformation ? Can the symbols of prophecy 
be made to signify first one thing, and then another, according to 
the fancy of those who undertake to explain them ? At this rate, 
symbolical language would be a mass of uncertainties, more vague 
in its import than the oracles of heathenism." — Vint's JVew Illustr. 
of Proph. p. 249, 250. 

9 



98 THE MILLENNIUM. 

Satan, as used by John in the Revelation, must be under- 
stood, not as the literal appellation of the person of the 
Tempter, or the prince of fallen spirits, but as the mystic 
emblem of despotism and idolatry united, the true idea of 
Paganism, the inference is irresistible, that the binding of 
the Dragon or of Satan for the space of a thousand years 
must imply something more than the mere restraining of 
what is usually denominated ' Satanic influences.' It is in 
fact but ajigurative mode of announcing the suppression of 
Paganism for a definite term of years ; not indeed its uni- 
versal suppression, but its banishment from the bounds of 
Christendom during the period specified, as will be more 
fully evinced in the sequel. 

That this language should have been interpreted by the 
great mass of expositors in its most literal import, as im- 
plying that Satan should be confined in hell a thousand 
years, and his temptations during that period held in abey- 
ance, and that they should have constructed upon this cir- 
cumstance a theory of the Millennium distinguished by a 
state of the church and of the world all but absolutely sin- 
less, can be accounted for only from the fact, that they have 
conducted their investigations upon principles which dis- 
regarded the most obvious laws of symbolical exegesis, 
and which were equally abhorrent to the dictates of sound 
reason. For freedom from temptation detracts from the 
value of obedience just so far as it exists. The strength 
and the worth of the pious principle in men is to be esti- 
mated by the counter-solicitations which it overcomes, and 
we know not that any state of the Christian church is pre- 
dicted, in which men shall be delivered from the operation 
of those incentives to sin which are inseparable from the 
constitution of their nature as moral agents. Into such in- 
congruities are we led by giving a literal interpretation to 
symbolical terms. But suppose, on the other hand, the 
language in the passage before us to be interpreted in con- 



THE MILLENNIUM. 99 

sistency with the ascertained import of the same symbols 
ill other places, and an easy and natural sense at once dis- 
closes itself under the figured diction of the prophet. If 
the Dragon be Paganism personified, then his being seized, 
bound and incarcerated for a thousand years, must neces- 
sarily signify some powerful restraint laid, in the provi- 
dence of God, upon this baneful system of error, by which 
its prevalence, through the above-mentioned period, is 
vastly weakened, obstructed, and confined to narrow limits, 
though not utterly destroyed. 

The question, therefore, whether this period be already 
past or yet future, resolves itself into another question 
purely historical. Has there already occurred in the an- 
nals of the Christian world — for the book of Revelation has 
mainly to do with the territories of Christendom — an ex- 
tended tract of time during which the system of Pagan de- 
lusions was suppressed, and the fabric of civil and ecclesi- 
astical oppression represented by the Beast and the False 
Prophet prevailed in its stead ? But this is a question 
which the veriest novice in the history of the decline and 
fall of the Roman Empire, and of those nations which 
branched out of its dismembered fragments, is at once pre- 
pared to answer. No facts in the chronicles of the past 
are more notorious, than that Paganism under Constantine 
and his successors did, after a desperate struggle, succumb 
to Christianity in its triumphant progress ; and that the re- 
ligion of the Gospel, after subsisting for one or two centu- 
ries posterior to the age of Constantine in a state of com- 
parative purity, did gradually become corrupt in doctrine, 
carnal and secular in spirit, and arrogant in its claims, till 
finally it allied itself to the civil power in a union which 
gave birth to the ecclesiastico-political dominion of the Ro- 
man pontificate, for so many centuries the paramount 
scourge of Europe. As it is unquestionable, therefore, that 
the ascendancy of Paganism in the Roman empire was sue- 



100 THE MILLENNIUM. 

ceeded by that of Antichristianism, symbolically denoted 
by the Beast's succeeding the Dragon, so we are led to 
consider the binding of the Dragon, i. e. the suppression of 
Paganism, as commencing about the time of the rise of the 
Beast, and nearly coinciding with the first thousand years 
of his reign. 

This may strike the reader as a very revolting conclu- 
sion. To represent the Apocalyptic Millennium, which 
he has always conceived as but another name for the 
golden age of the church, as actually synchronizing 
with the most calamitous period of her annals, will no 
doubt do violence to his most cherished sentiments re- 
specting that distinguished era. But this conclusion we 
know not how to avoid, nor do we see how any one can 
avoid it who admits the premises on which it rests. For 
certainly the Millennial binding of the Dragon must either 
coincide with a thousand years of the reign of the Beast, 
as we maintain, or must succeed it. But if the latter, 
then we have a break in the proplietical history of the 
Dragon or Paganism, of between one and two thousand 
years, in relation to the events of which we are left in ut- 
ter ignorance. By the former interpretation, the chain is 
preserved unbroken from its earliest origin to its final an- 
nihilation. 

Besides, by interpreting the period of Satan's binding 
as yet future, we encounter a textual difficulty of no tri- 
fling character. In Rev. 12: 12, after the close of the 
contest in heaven, it is said : — * Wo to the inhabiters of 
the eartli and the sea ! for the devil is come down unto 
you, having great wrath, because he knowdh that he hath 
hut a short time ;' i. e. he knoweth that after his fall from 
heaven, but a short time will intervene anterior to his 
binding and confinement in the bottomless pit, as repre- 
sented in the vision under consideration. But if he came 
down to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea in his de- 



THE MILLENNIUM. 101 

jection from the s3'mbolical heaven in the days of Constan- 
tine, and yet his binding was not to take place till near 
two thousand years after that event, with what propriety 
could it be said that he knew his time was short 7 The 
time would in truth be long, very long, when compared 
with the whole period embraced in the visions of the Apoc- 
alypse. Now by our mode of interpretation we allow 
from one to two centuries for the term of the Devil's ex- 
ecution of his designs against the subjects of the Roman 
empire subsequent to his expulsion from the seat of supre- 
macy in the government, and previous to his binding ; and 
this strikingly corresponds with the statement of Gibbon. 
Speaking of the reign of Constantine, he says : " Every 
motive of authority and fashion, of interest and reason, 
now militated on the side of Christianity ; hut two or three 
generations elapsed before their victorious influence was 
universally felt.''''* The same writer elsewhere remarks, 
that " the generation which arose in the world after the 
promulgation of the imperial laws, was attracted within 
the pale of the catholic church : and so rapid, yet so 
gentle, was the fall of Paganism, that only twenty-eight 
years after the death of Theodosius, the faint and minute 
vestiges loerc no longer visible to the eye of the legisla- 
tor.V^ The death of Theodosius occurred A. D. 395, 
and we suppose the binding of Satan to have commenced 
somewhere between this and A. D. 459, but the precise 
year we pretend not to determine. The rise of the Beast 
is to be fixed at a somewhat later period; the exact date 
of that epoch also we leave to be settled by those who feel 
themselves competent to do it. The expiration of the 
thousand years, according to this computation, will nearly 
coincide with the establishment of the Turkish power in 
Western Asia in consequence of the capture of Constanr 

* Decl. and Fall, p. 332. t lb. p. 469. 

9* 



102 THE MILLENNIUM. 

tinople, A. D. 1453; and how entirely the history of that 
period and that people answers the import of the prophet- 
ic symbols will be shown in the sequel, in our explication 
of the mystic post-millennial Gog and Magog. We shall 
now enter upon a more minute consideration of the lan- 
guage of this remarkable vision. 

*' And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having 
the key of the bottomless pit, and a great chain in his 
hand." An angel, in the language of symbols, is used to 
denote any agent or agency, terrestrial or celestial, by 
which the purposes of the Almighty are accomplished. In 
the passage before us, the angel is but another name for 
the power of the Go.'^pel, putting itself forth through the 
commissioned ministers of the Roman government, whieh 
had now become Christian. As we are taught by our Lord 
himself, that no one can ' enter into a strong man's house, 
and spoil his goods, except he first bind the strong man,'' 
so it was nothing but the divine potency of the religion of 
the cross, which could avail to dislodge the system of Pa- 
ganism from its strongholds, and annul the pernicious in- 
fluence which it had for ages exerted upon the human 
mind. This hitherto unprecedented revolution, which 
had long been gradually working its way to a crisis, re- 
ceived, as we have already intimated, its final consumma- 
tion in or shortly after the reign of Theodosius. " The 
ruin of Paganism, in the age of Theodosius, is perhaps the 
only example of the total extirpation of any ancient and 
popular superstition ; and may therefore be considered as 
a singular event in the history of the human mind."* The 
reader of Gibbon will find in the concluding part of the 
twenty-eighth chapter of the Decline and Fall a more valu- 
able commentary on this part of the twentieth chapter of 
the Apocalypse than is furnished by all the professed ex- 
positors who have ' taken in hand to set forth in order a 

* Decl, and Fall, p. 462. 



THE MILLENNIUM. 103 

declaration of the things' contained in it. " The gods of 
antiquity," says he, " were dragged in triumph at the 
chariot-wheels of Theodosius. In a full meeting of the 
senate, the emperor proposed, according to the forms of 
the republic, the important question, whether the worship 
of Jupiter or that of Christ should be the religion of the 
Romans. On a regular division of the senate, Jupiter was 
condemned and degraded by the sense of a very large ma- 
jority." — "The pious labor which had been suspended 
near twenty years since the death of Constantine, was vigo- 
rously resumed, and finally accomplished, by the zeal of 
Theodosius. Whilst that warlike prince yet struggled 
with the Goths, not for the glory but the safety of the re- 
public, he ventured to offend a considerable party of his 
subjects, by some acts which might perhaps secure the 
protection of heaven, but which must seem rash and un- 
reasonable in the eye of human prudence. The success 
of his first experiments against the Pagans encouraged the 
pious emperor to reiterate and enforce his edicts of pro- 
scription ; and every victory of the orthodox Theodosius 
contributed to the triumph of the Christian and Catholic 
faith."* A 'key' being.an instrument used for the dou- 
ble purpose of opening or shutting, is in itself a symbol of 
equivocal import. It signifies, however, either the power 
to prevent or to perform the action to which it is applied, 
according to the circumstances of the case. Thus the 
' keys of the kingdom of heaven,' Matt. 16: 19, represent- 
ed as given to Peter in the name of all the other apostles, 
denotes the ministerial or declarative power conferred up- 
on them of proclaiming the terms on which men were to 
be admitted into the gospel kingdom, and invested with a 
share in its spiritual blessings. So in Luke 11: 5, the tak- 
ing away of ' the key of knowledge' implies the assump- 
tion on the part of those who are charged with it of a mag- 

* Decl. and Fall, pp. 464, 465. 



104 



THE MILLENNIUM. 



isterial right eitlier to grant or to withhold from the mass 
of the people the means or the power of attaining know- 
ledge ; so that the term still conveys the idea of official 
prerogative. A passage still more pertinent to our pur- 
pose occurs Is. 2*2:22, ' And the key of the house of David 
will I lay upon his shoulder ; so he shall open, and none 
shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open;' ren- 
dered in the Ch Udee Targum, — '' And I will deliver the 
key of the house of the sanctuary, and the government of 
the house of David into his hand." Upon this passage 
Lowth remarks : — " That as the robe and the baldric (gir- 
dle) mentioned in the preceding verse were the ensigns of 
power and authority, so likewise was the key the mark of 
office, either sacred or civil." The import of the expres- 
sion doubtless is, that Eliakim should act by an authorita- 
tive commission, as the prime minister, or rather perhaps 
the high steward, of the house of David, having dl the 
subordinate officials of the royal palace so entirely under 
his control, and so obedient to his nod, that his will was to 
be to them an absolute law. The laying of the key there- 
fore upon his shoulder was merely the symbol of the trans- 
fer of this delegated authority ; which still farther illus- 
trates the import of the key as a hieroglyphic* Again 
it is said, Rev. 9: 1, ' And I saw a star fall from heaven 
unto the earth ; and to him was given the key of the bot- 
tomless pit.' The office of the key in this instance was to 
open instead of shut, but it still throws light upon the gen- 

* In like manner, in the classic writers, Uie priestess of Juno is 
called ii?.iiiiuv/oc "//o«c, key-bearer of Juno. ^Esch. Suppl. 2'.)\). A 
female high in office under a great queen has the same title : Ku?.- 
7.idui, >c?.iid(o/ng 0/.i\u:iiui^u; (iunl/.tic, CaUithai the key-bearer of the 
queen O'ynipias. Anc. Chorion, ap. Clem. Alex. p. 418. This mark 
of office was likewise among the Greeks, as here in Isaiah, borne 
on the shoulder, wherefore it is said of the priestess of Ceres, x«- 
rvuudtuf X/i yj.iidu, she had a key upon her shoulder. Callim. Ceres, 
V. 45. 



THE MILLENNIUM. 105 

era! symbol. It denotes in the present connexion a provi- 
dential license given to some apostate agent, represented by 
the falling star, to be the means of releasing from confine- 
ment some destructive power which was to issue forth and 
to desolate a considerable portion of the Apocalyptic earth. 
The Jcei/ is mentioned in order to indicate that the work exe- 
cuted by the prophetic agents was performed in consequence 
of an official designation emanating from a higher powder. 
This is clearly implied also in the force of the word ido&i] 
— was given. The grand event depicted by the symbol 
was undoubtedly the irruption of the Saracens under Mo- 
hammed and his successors against the Roman empire. 
''This," says Daubuz, " expresses well a hidden multitude 
of confused men arisino- on a sudden, and breaking out to 
make incursions, as a subterraneous flood when broken 
out ; and that according to the analogy that the Deep or 
the Sea signifies a multitude in war and tumult, and the 
Pit the most vile, lowest, and contemptible sort of men, 
like the slaves that are in the pit. I think then that the 
Holy Ghost did design to show by the key of the bottom- 
less gulf which was given to this star fallen from heaven 
upon the earth, that this rebellious prince or upstart would 
set the slaves at liberty, and all such sorts of despicable 
men ; and by setting himself at the head of them, lead on 
that mixed multitude to prosecute the purposes mentioned 
hereafter : carrying on their designs by a continual and 
prodigious war, and incursions upon others. The Sara- 
cens were as hell broke loose. Mohammed was sent to pun- 
ish corrupted Christendom with the vilest sort of men, the 
most despicable nation."* It will be seen in the sequel 
that we differ from this commentator, for whom w^e have 
greater respect than for any other, in our explication of 

* Perpet. Comment, p. 398. 



106 THE MILLENNIUM. 

the symbol of the ' bottomless pit,' but the citation is im- 
portant for our main purpose. 

From what has now been said, we are better prepared to 
understand the drift of the emblematic scenery under con- 
sideration. The circumstance of the angel's coming down 
from heaven having the key of the bottomless pit in his 
hand, denotes that the action to which his coming has ref- 
erence, viz. the apprehension, binding, and imprisonment 
of the Dragon, was to be performed by a delegated power, 
an autliorized and official ministry, or in other words, in 
consequence of an imperial edict. The evident scope of 
this part of the vision is to point out to us the fact, that the 
power symbolized by the Dragon was forcibly expelled from 
the territories in which it had hitherto subsisted, and that 
through the instrumentality of sotne commissioned organ 
acting in the name of the supreme authority. Now as a 
matter of historical verity. Paganism did not go out of the 
Roman empire, but it was driven out. The majesty of the 
law commanded its expulsion, and the reader who may 
have access to the Theodosian Code containing the enact- 
ments against Paganism, is in possession of the genuine 
* key ' ofi\\Q passage and to the passage before us. 

The historian so often cited, speaking of the attempts of 
the idolaters by subtle distinctions to elude the laws en- 
acted against the heathen sacrifices, says, — ''These vain 
pretences were swept away by the last edict of Theodosius, 
which inflicted a deadly wound upon the superstition of the 
Pagans. This proliibitory law is expressed in the most ab- 
solute and comprehensive terms. ' It is our will and plea- 
sure,' says the emperor, * that none of our subjects, whether 
magistrates or private citizens, however exalted or how- 
ever humble may be their rank and condition, shall presume, 
in any city or in any place, to worship an inanimate idol 



THE MILLENNIUM. 107 

by the sacrifice of a guiltless victim.' "* " As the temples 
had been erected for the purpose of sacrifice, it was the 
duty of a benevolent prince to remove from his subjects the 
dangerous temptation of offending against the laws which 
he had enacted. A special commission was granted to 
Cynegius, the praetorian praefect of the east, and afterward 
to the Counts Jovius and Gaudentius, two officers of dis- 
tinguished rank in the west, hy which they were directed 
to shut the temples^ to seize or destroy the instruments of 
idolatry, to abolish the privileges of the priests, and to con- 
fiscate the consecrated property for the benefit of the em- 
peror, of the church, or of the army."t This then was the 
binding of the Dragon, another name for the authoritative 
suppression of Paganism, an event which from its very na- 
ture cannot be tied down to the space of a month or a year, 
though we may still approach near enough to a definite 
epoch to answer all the grand purposes of exposition. So 
conclusive is the proof that if the Dragon be Paganism, the 
Millennium, which was to be mainly distinguished by his 
binding, is long since past. 

"And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, 
which is the Devil and Satan, and bound him a thousand 
years ; and cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him 
up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the na- 
tions no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled ; 
and after that he must be loosed a little season." The 
Greek term u^vaaoq, translated in our version ' bottomless 
pit,' is derived from the privative a and ^v&og, which in 
the Ionic dialect is changed into ^vaaoq. It is originally 

** Decl. and Fall, p. 408. 

t Ibid. p. 465. Among the monuments of idolatry wliich were 
destroyed on this occasion, the historian mentions particularly an 
emblematic monster, having the head and body of a serpent, branch- 
ing into three tails, which were again terminated by the triple 
heads of a dog, a lion, and' a wolf. 



108 THE MILLENNIUM. 

an adjective, signifying deep, profound, unfathomable, im- 
mense, inaccessible. As a substantive with xMQa, region, 
underst(X)d, it denotes a place of indefinite, indescribable 
depth or extent, a place incapable of being explored. It 
occurs in the Septuagint version of the Old Testament 
thirty-nine times, in thirty-six of which the original Hebrew 
term to which it answers is Dinn tchom, usually rendered 
the deep, the great deep, etc. In the New Testament it 
occurs nine times ; seven of the passages in which it is met 
with being in the Revelation. In a majority of the cases 
above specified it cannot be doubted that it contains an al- 
lusion to waters; in others it is equally evident that it re- 
fers to cavernous recesses in the earth, in which there is 
no implication of the presence of waters. Thus Rom. 10: 7, 
" Who shall descend into the deep (Gr. ilq tijv a^^vaaov), 
that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead?" where 
the allusion is plainly to the sepulchrd vaults in which the 
dead were entombed. So in Rev. 9: 2, where it is said, 
" he opened the bottomless pit (Gr. to cpoiuQ jr,g a^^iaaov — 
the loell, pit, or shaft of the abyss), '^ as it is not said that 
water issued forth, but first smoke and then locusts, which 
we know are not of aquatic origin, it is doubtful whether 
the ' abyss ' in this connection, literally understood, denotes 
anything more than a vast subterranean recess with which 
the pit or well had a secret or direct communication, as 
some of the wells in Egypt communicate with the exca- 
vated chambers of the Pyramids. In like maimer it may 
be justly questioned whether the ' abyss,' in the passage be- 
fore us, in which the Dragon was to be shut up, will admit 
of being understood in any other sense than as an immense 
cavern in the earth, such as were employed among the na- 
tions of the east for the double purpose of places of inter- 
ment for the dead, and confinement for state criminals. 
As to the sense popularly iiffixed to the phrase, in which it 
is considered as an appellation of the place of torment for 



THE MILLENNIUM. 109 

the wicked after death, or as synonymous with ' the infer- 
nal regions,' we find not a single passage either in the Old 
or the New Testament by which that import is sustained. 
It is said, indeed, Luke 8: 30, 31, that the devils (demons) 
which had entered into the demoniac who called himself 
Legion, " besought him that he would not command them 
ilg xr]i> ai^v<T(Tov ocJieX&stv — to go away into the abyss." 
But it may be questioned, in regard to this passage, whether 
the allusion be not to the very abyss spoken of in this vision 
of the Revelation, in which the Dragon, as the mystical 
denomination of the whole system of ancient demonology, 
was to be cast ; or whether, in other words, this request 
was not prompted by the anticipation of that dreaded doom 
which had been plainly pre-intimated for ages before in the 
oracular shadowings of the Old Testament prophets ; as 
the visions of the Apocalypse are but a development of the 
darker mysteries of prior revelations. But whether this be 
so or not, the abyss into which the unclean spirits depre- 
cated being cast cannot well be considered a body of water, 
as otherwise they would hardly have petitioned to be per- 
mitted to enter into the herd of swine which rushed at 
once into the lake. 

But if such be the literal import of the ' abyss ' which 
was to constitute the Dragon's prison-house, the question 
arises, what is its symbolical significancy ? — for it can no 
more be doubted that the Abyss is a symbol, than that the 
Dragon himself is. Analogical consistency imperiously re- 
quires this view of the subject. In answer then to the ques- 
tion we observe, that as the Roman empire was to the 
apostle John and his contemporaries the known civilized 
world, and the stage on which were exhibited the different 
scenes of prophetic vision ; so the Abyss, the place of the 
Dragon's confinement, was, if we mistake not, intended by 
the Spirit of prophecy to signify the unknown world com- 
prising the immense, unexplored, undefined, boundless re- 
10 



110 THE MILLENNIUM. 

gions which stretched away beyond the limits of the Roman 
empire, particularly to the north and east, icherc Satan had 
long established his throne, where he ruled ivith undivided 
sway, and where idolatry in its most frightful and horrid 
forms has ever held a disasttwus dominion. Tliis affords a 
natural, easy, and consistent solution of the imagery of the 
vision. The binding and confinement of the Dragon in the 
Abyss is the expulsion of Paganism from the bounds of 
Christendom, and its restriction within the limits of certain 
regions which lay without the territorial platform of the 
Roman empire. Augustine seems to have had an inkling 
of the true sense of the symbol : — " Gentes igitur sunt, in 
quibus diabolum velut in abysso superius intelligebamus, 
inclusum"* — There are nations, then fore, in u)hich, as 
before explained, the devil was shut up as in an abyss. But 
the pen of Gibbon, in describing the fact which we suppose 
to have constituted the accomplishment of this prophecy, 
would seem to have been guided by the Spirit of inspira- 
tion. " Before the age of Charlemagne, the Christian na- 
tions of Europe might exult in the possession of the tem- 
perate climates, of the fertile fields which produced corn, 
wine, and oil ; while the savage idolaters and their helpless 
idols 2oei'e confined to the extremities of the earth, the dark 
and frozen regions of the norfh.''^f 

Such, then, if we rightly interpret the prophetic signs, 
is the scope of this vision. The Millennium of the Apoca- 
lypse is but another name for that long interregnum Avhich 
broke the extended term of the dominion of Paganism sub- 
sequent to the establishment of Christianity in the Roman 
world. It was in fact a millennial syncope of the vital vigor 
of that power which had before animated the governments 
of all nations coming within the limits of the empire of the 

* August. De Civil. Dei, 1. 20. c. 11. 

t Dec], and Fall, p. GOO. 



THE MILLENNIUM. Ill 

Caesars. How gross then the anachronism of placing this 
period near the end of the world ! 

But that the reader may have some guaranty that the adop- 
tion of this opinion will not of course throw hin^ out of the 
range of all fellowship of sentiment with the Christian 
world, we shall here adduce the sanction of some eminent 
names who have advocated in effect the very theory we are 
now maintaining. Not that their authority is adequate to 
decide the question of its truth ; but it is gratifying to find, 
when a particular conclusion has been arrived at by a pro- 
cess of reasoning conducted independently of all human 
authority, that other minds, for whose decisions we have 
great respect, have been led to form substantially the same 
judgment upon the points at issue. 

Liffhtfoot, Briorhtman, and Usher are, we believe, the 
only English authors of eminence who have maintained that 
the Millennium of John is past. The former, in a sermon 
preached at Hertford Assizes, March, 1660, the text of 
which is Rev. 20: 4, holds the following language : 

'' This portion of Scripture, out of which I have taken my 
text, is as much misconstrued and as dangerously miscon- 
strued as any portion of Scripture in all the Bible. What 
work the millenary and fifth-monarchists make upon this 
place I need not tell you. They look forward and make ac- 
count that the things that are here spoken of their accom- 
plishment and fulfiling are yet to come. I look backward 
and fear not to aver, that the things here spoken of have re- 
ceived their accomplishment long ago. They look forward 
and expect that the tliousand years that ore liere mentioned 
are yet to begin ; I look backward, and make no doubt that 
tliose thousand years ended and expired above half a thou- 
sand years since. 

" The Apocalyptic writer speaks up that great and noble 
theme that all die prophets so divinely and comfortably harp 
upon — namely, the calling of the Gentiles, that they should 
come in out of their dark and deluded state, to the light and 
embracing of the gospel, and to become the church and peo- 
})le of tlie living God ; that Christ, the great angel of the 



112 THE MILLENNIUM. 

covenant, should by the ])o\vor of the gospel chain np the 
devil, that he should deceive them no more as he had done. 
The mistakers I mention do either ignorantly or willully err 
about the subject haiulled here, and construe it to this sense 
— that the devil should be bound by Christ, that he should 
not })ersecute, disturb, and discpiiet the church as he had 
done ; but that all along these thousand years there shoidd 
be only a time of peace and tranquilhty, and not cue cloud 
of disquietude or disturbance by the devil or his instruments 
eclipse it. A sense as far from the Holy Ghost's meaning 
as tlie east is from the west. 

"There is not one word here of the devil's binding that 
he should not disturb the church, but of the devil's binding 
that he should not deceive- the nations. The devil had de- 
ceived aiul kept the poor heathen in deludedness by idols, 
oracles, fdse miracles, horrid mysteries of irreligiousness, and 
a thousand cozenages, for above two thousand years ; name- 
ly, from their tirst casting oti' at the confusion of Babel, till 
the gospel was brought in among them by the apostles. By 
the gospel, Christ dissolves those charms of delusion, brings 
down idolatry, silences the devil's oracles and miracles, and 
chains up the devil from that power and liberty of deceiving 
nil nations as he had done. 

" He says the devil was chained up in this sense a thou- 
pand years, using a known expression of the Jews, and allud- 
ing to an opinion of theirs, partly that he might speak the 
more to be understood when he useth an expression so well 
known — and partly that he might face the mistake of the 
Jews in that opinion. It was their conceit and fancy that 
Messias, when he should come, should reign among the 
Jewish nation a thousand years, but as for the heathen he 
should destroy them. No, saitli our Ai)ocalyi)tic writer, his 
reigning a thousand years shall be among the nations or the 
Gentiles; and he shall not come to destroy the Gentiles, but 
to deliver them : to deliver them from the power and delu- 
sions of Satan — to chain up Satan that he shall deceive them 
no more as he had done ; but that, whereas before for so long 
a time together tiiey had been only taught of the devil, now 
they should all be taught of God. And if you begm to count 
the thousand years from the time that the gospel was lirst 
brought in among the Gentiles by Paul and Barnabas, and 
other of the apostles, you will tind that the end and expiring 



THE MILLENNIUM. 113 

of them will fall to be in the very depth and thickness of 
popery ; and then was the devil got loose again, and deceiv- 
ed the nation by as gross and wretched delusions as ever he 
had done before."* 

We dissent from this learned writer in respect to the date 
which he assigns to the binding of Satan ; for it is suffi- 
ciently clear from our preceding expositions that this event 
did not take place till after the war in heaven, and the 
casting down of the Dragon from thence, or in other words, 
till after the grand conflict of Christianity with Paganism, 
and the overthrow of the latter, which we have shown to 
have occurred in the reign of Constantine. This view of 
the subject is evidently required by the decorum of the 
symbols, for the prophet says: — "I saw an angel come 
down from heaven ;" which certainly implies that the Dra- 
gon himself was not at this time in heaven, but had been 
cast down. His binding occurred at least a century after 
his dejection. 

Among the continental writers who have treated this 
subject, the elder Turretin holds a conspicuous place, and 
his sentiments are thus expressed : — 

" As the binding of Satan for a thousand years coincides 
with the thousand years in which the martyrs were to reign 
with Christ, if it shoidd appear that the Millennium of Sa- 
tan's binding is already past, from this very circumstance it 
will be clear that the reign of a thousand years has already 
elapsed, and is to be no more expected. But wherever this 
binding of Satan begin, whether from the incarnation of our 
Saviour, as some think, at which time the strong one was 
bound by a stronger, and his vessels taken from him and 
transferred out of darkness into the kingdom of light ; or — 
from his passion and death, as appears best unto others, on 
which Satan was bound by Christ, the handwriting taken 
from him which was contrary to us, his head bruised and a 
triumph gained over him; or — at the destruction of Jerusa- 
lem, as others say, lest a reverence remaining for legal cere- 

* Lightfoot's Works, vol. vi. p. 255. 

10* 



114 THE MILLENNIUM. 

monies should in any way impede the progress of the. gospel; 
or — finally, at the accession of Constantine as emperor, which 
opinion is the most common, at which period the free exer- 
cise of religion was granted to CJiristians ; and the conse- 
quence was, that Satan was no longer openly permitted to 
seduce the nations or persecute them through the fm-ious 
cruelty of heathen emperors : wherever, 1 say, this binding 
begin, it is clear that the time is long since past, and is no 
more to be ex})ected in future. But tliough in some inter- 
vals Satan was not so bound, but that he still brought various 
evils on the church; yet that prediction does not fail of its 
accomplishment, because the binding was not to be absolute, 
but limited."* 

P. Mastricht, an eminent Professor of Theology at 
Utrecht, has expressed himself in similar language. 

" The thousand years may be understood to have elapsed 
some time since, whether they be reckoned from the incar- 

* '* Ut ligatio Satana per mille annos coincidit annis, quibus 
Martyri cum Christo regnaturi sunt; si conslet millennarium liga- 
tionis Satanae jam lapsiim esse, eo patebit rcgnum mille annorum 
jam praelerisse, nee atnplius esse expectandum. Undcquaque au- 
tem ista ligatio Satanae inchoetur ; vel a Servatoris incarnatione, 
ut quibusdam placet, quo tempore fortis a fortiori ligatus est, et ei 
erepta sunt vasa, et e tenebris in regnum lucis translata, Matt. 12: 
29; vel ab ejus passione et moite, ut aliis visum, in qua ligatus est 
Satan per Christum, erepto ei chirographo quod nobis conlrarium 
crat, et contrite ejus capite, et triumpho de illo acto, Col. 2: 14, 15 ; 
Heb. 2: 14 ; vel in excidio Hierosolymitano, cum aliis, ne legalium 
absoleta reverentia evangelii cursum quovis modo impediret; vel 
deniqne in Constantini M. imperio, ut pluribus probatur, quo tem- 
pore liberuin Christianis concessum est religionis exercitium, ef 
iectumque, ut Satance non amplius jiceret aperte et impune gcntes 
seducore, et per grassantem imperatorum gentilium saevitiani per- 
sequi. Undecunque, inquam, ista ligatio inchoatur, liquet tenipus 
hoc jamdudum praeteriisse, nee in posterum esse amplius expec- 
tandum. Licet autem in istis inlervallis non ita ligatus fuerit Sa- 
tan, quin varia ad hue mala ecclesiae intulerit; non desinit tamen 
oraculum istud complementum suum sortiri ; quia ligatio ista non 
debuit esse absoluta sed limitata. — F. Turretini Institut. Thcol. p. 
650. 1701. 



THE MILLENNIUM. 115 

nation or death of our Saviour, or from the destruction of 
Jerusalem, or from the death of Constantiue the Great. If 
from the incarnation, the thousand years would cease under 
Sylvester 11. ; if from the crucifixion, under Benedict IX. ; if 
from the commencement of Constantine's reign, under Boni- 
face VIIL, at the rise of the Ottoman power, and when the 
dreadful persecutions of the Waldenses were raging about 
the thirteenth cent6ry. So that the sense of the whole pas- 
sage may be thus given : Satan, either from the incarnation 
of Christ, or rather from the reign of Constantine, was bound 
so far that he should not any more seduce whole nations to 
idolatry, or cause such bloody persecutions of Christians, un- 
til the time of Boniface Vlll. in the year 1300; then for a 
short time, that is, till the period of the Reformation, he was 
let loose to seduce whole nations, partly by Antichrist, then 
prevailing greatly in the West, and partly by the Mohamme- 
dan power then extending its conquests."* 

J. Marck, a distinguished divine of Leyden, thus states 
his opinion : 

" We believe that a space perhaps about a thousand years 
is intended : which began with the birth of Christ, or with 
his personal ministry, or at his resurrection, or even with the 

* Mille illi anni, dudum prceteilapsi intelligi possunt, sive sup- 
putentnr ab incarnatione, aut passione Servatoris ; sive ab excidio 
Hierosolymitano ; sive ab imperio Constantini Magni. Si ab in- 
carnatione, desinent mille anni in Sylvestro secundo ; si a pas- 
sione, in Bejiedicto nono ; si ab excidio Hierosolymitano, in Gre- 
gorio septiino ; si ab initio Constantini M. in abortu Bonifacii oc- 
tavi, et in ortu familise Ottomanicae, et Waldensiuni funestis per- 
secutionibus, circa seculum decimuni tertium. Ut sensns loci uni- 
versi emergat, Satanam, sui ab incarnatione Christi, seu potius ab 
imperio Constantini M. ligalum fuisse, eatenns, ut non amplius se- 
duceret integras gentes ad idololatriam, aut persecutiones Chris- 
tianoruin tarn cruentas, usque ad Bonifaciurn octaviun, anno 
MCCC turn ad breve teinpus, scil. usque ad reforinationis ternpus, 
solutum fuisse, ut seduceret integras nationes, partiin per Anti- 
christ.um, inaxime tutn invalescenteni in Occidenli ; partini per 
Mahutnmedanuin, turn exoriens. — Mastricht^ Theol. vol. i. p. 483. 

leus. 



116 THE MILLENNIUM. 

reign of Constantine, or at every one of these in succession, 
and flowed on till it broke forth into Antichristian and Mo- 
hammedan impiety, s{3ieading more and still more. Satan 
was then hound by Christ more closely tlian before, by be- 
ing iu){)eded in seducing the nations ; martyrs and other be- 
lievers, as it respects their souls, living and reigning with 
Christ on his celestial throne, and forward to all eternity ; 
while the other dead lived not again in a similar way at 
death, nor before it in a saving conversion on this earth."* 

These extracts will, it is presumed, take off the odium 
of novelty from the interpretation now proposed, although 
they may fail to establish its justness to the mind of the 
reader. Indeed they are not adduced for that purpose. 
For this we rely exclusively upon the foregoing train of 
annotation upon the chapters which have come under re- 
view, and in which we now proceed. 

" And set a seal upon him." The abyss, as we have 
before remarked, is represented by the prophet under 
the image of a great pit or den, such as slaves and privso- 
ners were anciently confined in, as the prisons of the ori- 
ental nations are usually, like their graves, under ground, 
in which respect they differ from similar receptacles among 
the Europeans. Thus Is. 24 : 22, ' And they shall be 
gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, 
and shall be shut up in the prison.' It is owing to this fact 
that graves are frequently compared to prisons, and prisons 

* Credimus innni circiler forte n)ille aiiriorum spatium, quod vcl 
a nativitatf^, vel a prfEdicatinne, vel a resnrrectione Christi, vel a 
Spiritjs efFiisione, vel a vastatione Jerosolymcea, vel etiain a Con- 
stanlini itnperio, vel ab his omnibus per gradus successlvos. Anti- 
christianain el Maliu.nmedicam inipietatem, ligato turn a Christo 
SatanA magis quam antea, per impeditam gentium seductinnem ; 
viventibus et regnantibus martyribus ac roliquis fidelibus respectu 
animarum cum Christo in ca?lesti throno, et in omnem porro aeter- 
nitatem, duin non reviviscebant similiter in ipsa morle, nee salu- 
tari conversione ante cum his in terris, reliqui mortui — Comp. 
rheol. p. Col. tert. ed. Amstelod. 1722. 



THE MILLENNIUM. 117 

to graves, tlie latter being nothing else than subterranean 
excavations, vaulted and walled with stone, or cut out of the 
solid rock, and having a large stone to cover the aperture.* 
From this circumstance arose the application of the terms 
' shutting ' and ' sealing ' to cells or caverns of this kind, 
of which the following instances afford a pertinent illustra- 
tion : Dan. 6: 17, ' And a stone was brought, and laid upon 
the mouth of the dtn ; and the king sealed it with his own 
signet, and with the signet of his lords ; that the purpose 
might not be changed concerning Daniel.' Mat. 27: 59, 
60, QQ, ' And when Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped 
it in a clean linen cloth, and laid it in his own new tomb, 
which he had hewn out in the rock : and he rolled a great 
stone to the door of the sepulchre, and departed. So they 
went and made the sepulchre sure, sealing the stone, and 
setting a watch.' As therefore in these two passages it is 
said that a seal was added for greater security, so the an- 
gel is here said not only to have ' shut up ' the Dragon, 
but also to have ' set a seal ' upon him. It is observable 
also that wells were anciently closed in like manner, as is 
evident from the incident related Gen. 29: 2, 3, ' And a 
great stone was upon the welVs mouth. And thither were 
all the flocks gathered ; and they rolled the stone from the 
well's mouth, and watered the sheep, and put the stone 
again upon the well's mouth, in his place.' Thus Cant. 4: 
12, the Bride is compared to a * well shut up ' to preserve 
its water pure from defilement, and to a ' fountain sealed ' 
— ntiyi] iaq)QayiafAEV)]. The Hebrew cntl hatham, signifies 

* Tliis was the custom of the ancient Egyptians; and, as we 
learn from Homer, of the Phrygians too. 

Aiii)a S" utQ eg y.olh]v xannov ^icrav aiTtxQ VTregd^s 
lIvKvoidiv lasaai y.aTeaioQScrav fisyixXotct. — Iliad, w. v. 797. 

Last o'er the urn the sacred earth they spread, 
And raised the tomb, memorial of the dead, — Pope, 



118 THE MILLENNIUM. 

both to ' shut ' and to ' seal ; ' and Hesychius defines 
(pQii^dfifvog having scaled, by Asiaac having shut. So the 
poet Aristophanes, whose plays abound with allegories, in- 
troduces Peace as having been before thrown into a dun- 
geon, the entrance of which was blocked up with stones, 
to denote the difficulty of securing its presence among men. 
Indeed, anything that is said to be ' sealed ' is supposed to 
be out of use and unknown till it is re-opened. Accord- 
ingly the effectual restraint laid upon Paganism during the 
period in question, answers, with great exactness, to the 
drift of the symbols employed, where the gradations in the 
process of the Dragon's seizure and confinement are very 
clearly marked : he is taken — bound — cast into the abyss — 
shut up — and scaled, and thus fully secured in what is af- 
terward, ver. 7, expressly termed his * prison.' 

" That he should deceive the nations no more." The 
idvrt, nations, here spoken of are the nations occupying 
the territories of the Roman empire or the people of 
Christendom, in contradistinction from the nations of the 
' abyss,' or the idolatrous tribes lying without the limits of 
the imperial jurisdiction. These converted ' nations,' dur- 
ing the period specified, although they were to be subject- 
ed to the Beast, and brought under the baleful influence 
of « corrupt Christianity , yet they were to be exempted 
from that peculiar form of ' deception,' or delusion, which 
consist in the open embracing of the abominations of Pa- 
ganism. There was much indeed of the .s/j/nY of Pagan- 
ism in the corrupt doctrines and practices of the Romish 
church, for the ecclesiastical Beast is said to have ' spoke 
as the dragon,'' but still it is not called in the prophecy by 
that name. The same body of men are nowhere said to 
be, at the same time, under the governance both of the 
• Dragon and the Beast. They are the symbolical repre- 
sensatives of two distinct communities, the one nominally 
Christian, the other positively Pagan. They embrace, 



THE MILLENNIUM. 119 

therefore, in reality the two grand divisions of mankind, 
the Christian and the Heathen, and in the respective fates 
of each we are instructed in the final destiny of those por- 
tions of these two great bodies which persist in rejecting 
the everlasting gospel preached by the angel flying through 
the midst of heaven, and in pertinaciously adhering to 
their fatal delusions. 

But in what sense was the Dragon to be restrained from 
'deceiving' the nations ? The character of the power by 
which the ' deceit' is to be practised, will doubtless go far 
to determine the nature of the * deceit' itself, and this we 
have already settled in our preceding explanations. The 
Dragon is Paganism ; his ' deceiving' the nations, there- 
fore, is his seducing them into idolatry; and the conse- 
quence of his being bound is a happy immunity from his 
diabolical arts enjoyed by those who were formerly his 
victims. This interpretation, however, of the original 
term nXavrjdt], should deceive, it will be proper to confirm 
by adducing the usage of the sacred writers, and showing 
that it has unequivocally the sense of doctrinal imposture, 
or of enticing men to the adoption of a false religion. As 
the style of the Apocalypse is essentially Hebraic in its 
character, its only adequate illustration is to be drawn 
from the language of the O. T. Scriptures as rendered in 
the Septuagint version. The pertinency of the following 
citations will be too obvious to escape the most casual eye. 
Deut. 4: 19, ' And lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, 
and when thou seest the sun and the moon and the stars, 
even all the host of heaven 7rlavi]&Hg nQOffuvvrjcrrjg avToiq — 
being deceived wouldst worship them.^ Here is obviously 
enticement to idolatry. Again, Deut. 39 : 17, ' But if 
thine heart turn away, so that thou wilt not hear, but nla-- 
vfj&ug n()oaxvvi](Trjg d^sdlg sTSQOig — being deceived shall wor- 
ship other gods.' Deut. 11: 28, ' And a curse, if ye will 
not obey the commandments of the Lord your God, but 



120 THE MILLENNIUM. 

7tXavrj&i]T£ ano 77]<; 68ov — are deceived, or err, out of the 
way which I command you this day, to go after other gods 
which ye have not known.' Deut. 13: 5, ' And that pro- 
phet, or that dreamer of dreams, shall be put to death, be- 
cause he hath spoken nXoivr,aul as ano xvqIov tov ^tov aov 
— to deceive thee from [folloiving) the Lord thy God.'' 
2 Kings 21 : 9, * And Manasseh inXuvyiaiv uvjovq, seduced 
them to do more evil than did the nations whom the Lord 
destroyed.' The nature of this 'seduction' is fully ex- 
plained in the preceding verses, where Manasseh is said to 
have ' reared altars for Baal' — * made a grove' — ' worship- 
ped all the host of heaven' — ' made his sons pass through 
the fire' — ' set up a graven image in the house of the 
Lord,' etc. implying the complete institution of idolatrous 
worship. Jer. 23: 13, 'And I have seen folly in the pro- 
phets of Samaria; they prophesied in Baal, y.ul tuhtrr^auv 
jov kaov fxov — and caused my people to err ;^ i. e. by teach- 
ing them false doctrines. Thus also in the New Testa- 
ment, Mat. 24: 11, 'And many false prophets shall rise, 
and nXarriaovai noXXuvq — shall deceive many ;^ i. e. by mis- 
leading them from the truth. Mat. 24: 24, ' Insomuch, 
that if it were possible they should nX(XYi]Gai — deceive the 
the very elect.' John 7: 12, ' Some said. He is a good 
man : others said, Nay, nXuiu lov o/Xov — he deceiveth the 
people;'' i. e. he instils error into their minds. The word 
occurs in the same sense of perverse religious teaching in 
several instances in the compass of the Revelation. Thus 
Rev. 2: 20, ' Thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which 
calJeth herself a prophetess, to teach and nXixvixaOut lovg 
ffiovg doiXovg—to seduce my servants to commit fornica- 
tion, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols.' Rev. 13: 14, 
' And nXava deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by 
means of those miracles which he had power to do,' i. e. 
inveigles into idolatrous worship. 

Daubuz, after adverting to the opinion of Lactantius 



THE MILLENNIUM* 121 

and Augustin that there would still be idolaters remaining 
on earth during the entire lapse of the Millennial age, inti- 
mates that in his own judgment, " These nations shall be, 
during the imprisonment of Satan, in so small a number, 
and so remote from the Holy City, and subject to the con- 
verted nations — being perhaps such as lie now in the ut- 
most boundaries of the inhabitable world — and so barba- 
rous and inaccessible to the rest of mankind, and at the 
same time so feeble in comparison of the true Christians, 
that they shall neither dare nor be able to disturb the peace 
of Christ's kingdom during all the time of the Millen- 
nium."* But if such were to be the state of things during 
the long period of Satan's restraint, it may be thought that 
a melancholy contrast is presented in the- fact, that after 
its termination he was again to be let loose from his prison, 
to go forth in all the potency of his infernal machinations, 
to reestablish his dominion over the infatuated minds of 
men, and to act over again the same sad scenes of despotic 
cruelty and idolatrous delusion which marked his ancient 
ascendancy. But the prophetic oracles afford no ground 
for such a sombre vein of anticipation. It is obvious that 
it was but to a very limited extent that Satan, subsequent 
to his liberation from the Abyss, should be permitted to re- 
new his diabolical arts. It is said, indeed, that he should 
be ' loosed,' yet it was to be only ' for a little season,' nor 
are we anywhere given to understand, that the church of 
Christ shoidd be again effectually overcome by her old en- 
emy. She doubtless was to continue triumphant to the 
end of the world. The event announced points rather to 
an enlargement of territory than to an inercase of subjects 
on the part of Paganism. Numerous hordes of barbarians 
might indeed issue forth from the regions of the ' Abyss,' 
and plant their heathen ensigns all around the precincts of 



Perpet. Comment, p. 924. 
11 



122 THE MILLENNIUM. 

Christendom, overrunning perhaps her fairest provinces, 
but it would be an invasion, not a mission, a project for 
making captives, raihei iha.n prosilytes ; and though the 
people of God might in consequence be compelled within 
narrower limits, yet there is no intimation that they were to 
prove apostate. If they fell under the jurisdiction of the 
liberated Dragon, it was to be as the sheep fall under the 
power of the prowling wolf All the advantages which 
Paganism should gain over Christianity, were to be attain- 
ed by conquest and not by conversion. But this is antici- 
pating our ensuing expositions. 

*' Till the thousand years should be fulfilled." The 
question has been often agitated among commentators 
whether this period was to be understood in its most literal 
acceptation, as designating the term of precisely one thou- 
sand solar or civil years, or whether it denoted a period of 
one thousand prophetic years, a lapse of time equivalent 
to 363,000 civil years. It has been deemed repugnant to 
our conceptions of the wisdom and goodness of the Most 
High to suppose that he would allow so much longer a 
term for the reign of sin on earth than for the reign of 
righteousness ; and conceiving the Millennium to point to 
a period yet future, they have been anxious to find some 
warrant for prolonging the term to a far greater extent than 
is implied in its literal designation. And since a less pe- 
riod of time is in several instances in the Apocaly})se em- 
ployed as the symbol of a greater, as a * day ' for a * year,' a 
* month ' or 3'J days for 3D ' years,' etc. so the term ' years' 
is here interpreted on the same principle, and evolved into 
the long duration mentioned above. But the idiom of sym- 
bolic language, if we mistake not, forbids this construc- 
tion, and ties down the expression to the sense of a thou- 
sand literal or civil years. In the prophetic style a 'day,' 
which is the complete revolution of the earth round its own 
axis, is the symbol for a year, which is the complete revo- 



THE MILLENNIUM. 123 

lution of the earth in its orbit round the sun. The lesser 
revolution in this case is the symbol of the greater revolu- 
tion of the same kind. But in those early ages of society 
in which the symbolical language was first adopted, the 
state of astronomical knovv'ledge did not lead men to per- 
ceive any greater revolutions of the earth by which time is 
measured ; and for v/hich a year, as the lesser revolution, 
might have b£en the proper symbolical character. Accord- 
ingly, in fact, the original word (er?;), which expresses the 
civil year, and is the word exclusively used in this passage, 
does not appear to be employed as a symbol by any of the 
prophets, either in the Old or New Testament.* If they 
predicted a very long period of time, for which a year 
might be a more convenient symbol than a day, they always 
take another word than a year to signify 360 prophetic days, 
as many civil years. Thus Daniel, ch. 7: 25, employs the 
expression ' a time, times, and the dividing of time ;' and 
John, Rev. 12: 14, ' a time, times, and half a time.' 

It may be observed, moreover, that even on the ground 
of the common theory of the Millennium, which considers 
it as answering antitypically to the seventh day of the Crea- 
tion, it entirely destroys the analogy to assign to the sev- 
enth Millennary a longer term of years than to either of 
the six preceding. If the six thousand years destined to 
elapse prior to the seventh, the great sabbatism of the 
world, are to be understood literally, why not the seventh 
thousand also ? Is not the Sabbath com.pcsed of the same 
number of hours as the rest of the days of the week ? 

But our interpretation of this whole subject encounters 
no difficulty whatever from this source. As we consider 
the Millennium as long since past — taking the term of 
course in its literal acceptation — we know of nothing to 



* The word occurring Rev. 9: 15, is not j-'toc, but hiairoi, sig- 
nifying indefinitely a revolvtlon^ or that ichich returns into itself . 



124 THE MILLENNIUM. 

Straiten us in the assignation of the chronological futuri- 
ties of the kingdom of Christ on earth. We feel ourselves 
at full liberty to give tlieir utmost latitude to the expres- 
sions of the prophet : — " The God of heaven shall set up a 
kingdom which shall never be destroyed : and the king- 
dom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in 
pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand 
for ever.''* " But the saints of the Most High shall take 
the kingdom, and possess the kingdom for ever, even for 
ever and cver.^'f The prosperous and glorious state which 
we are taught to anticipate for the church on earth is not, 
that we can learn, limited or defined by any boundaries of 
time whatever. An immeasurable lapse of ages stretches 
before us, offering * ample room and verge enough' for the 
physical, intellectual, and moral improvement of the hu- 
man race. A new and brighter career is yet to be run by 
the regenerated family of man; nor is the prospect, as we 
read the revelations of heaven, clouded by those portentous 
Magellanic shadows which to the mass of the Christian 
world gather round the closing period of their Millennium. 
But this is a point to be proved, and not barely asserted. 
The idea will be expanded in the sequel. 

" And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judg- 
ment was given unto them : and I saw the souls of them 
that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the 
word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, 
neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their 
foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned 
with Christ a thousand years." We are fully aware that 
upon the sense ordinarily attributed to this passage will be 
founded the most formidable objection which can be urged 
against the views of the Millennium advocated in this trea- 
tise. It has been so common to regard the Millennial pe- 
riod, announced in the Apocalypse, as but another name 

^ Dan. 2: 44. t Dan. 7: lb. 



THE MILLENNIUM. 125 

for every species of temporal and spiritual prosperity to be 
enjoyed on earth during that extended term of years, that 
the attempt to shake this ' throned opinion' will doubtless 
have very much the air, and perhaps the effect, of under- 
taking to controvert a self-evident proposition. If the lan- 
guage of the prophet — it will be said — in the vision before 
us, does not point to a positively and preeminently blissful 
state of the church and the world, when wars, and discord, 
and bloodshed shall cease, when truth shall have supplant- 
ed error, and righteousness sin, and the whole human race 
shall have been moulded into one grand fraternity of love, 
where, in the entire compass of revelation, is the promise 
of any such blessedness contained ? And as to the hy- 
pothesis of the Millennium being already pant, where, in 
the annals of history, has any such period occurred ? What 
are the events which, by any stretch of ingenuity, can be 
made to answer to the grand and glorious predictions of 
this chapter ? When and where in the ages past have the 
thrones been set, and the souls of the beheaded martyrs 
lived and reigned with Christ in the triumphs of the first 
resurrection ? These, we readily admit, are imposing 
questions, presenting difficulties in the way of our inter- 
pretation of a very plausible character. Still we do not 
despair of meeting them all with a satisfactory reply. But 
in doing so, we must discard every arbitrary construction, 
and adhere rigidly to the laws of symbolical interpretation, 
the neglect of which, if we mistake not, will be found to 
have given all its force to the objection now stated. Bring- 
ing then the common theory of the Millennium to this 
standard for trial, what is there, we ask, in the nature of 
the symbols employed, which imperatively requires us to 
regard them as shadowing forth a state of things peculiarly 
and transcendently prosperous ? We have already seen 
that the act of ' the binding of Satan,' as far as the inter- 
ests of the church are concerned, is merely a negative act, 
11* 



126 THE MILLENNIUM. 

denoting simply the withdrawment of his influences, exert- 
ed in a peculiar form, from the precincts of Christendom ; 
but as to the actual state of the Christian world in the 
mean time, we derive no information from this circum- 
stance. Whether it were in reality prosperous or adverse 
we are to learn from other sources. This however is a 
matter on which it was obviously very important that the 
prophet, as the representative of the church, should be par- 
ticularly instructed. While Paganism was banished from 
its primitive seats, and shut up among the idolatrous tribes 
of northern and eastern Asia, what, in the mean time, was 
the condition of Europe, the theatre of the fortunes of 
Christianity ? The banishment of the Dragon had cleared 
the stage for the transaction of a new series of events, 
which were to run parallel with the term of his imprison- 
ment, and the scope of the Holy Spirit in the passage be- 
fore us is unquestionably to portray, under appropriate 
imagery, the most remarkable occurrences of that pe- 
riod. He accordingly in this verse makes a transition from 
the realms of Paganism to those of Christendom, and gives 
us the leading features of the state of the Christianized 
world during the thousand years that elapsed from the 
binding of Satan, and while the Beast held his baneful as- 
cendancy over that portion of the globe. But the times of 
the Beast were preeminently disastrous times, and conse- 
quently we look in vain for a season of general prosperity 
and happiness during the true era of the Apocalyptic Mil- 
lennium. We speak confidently on this point, for it fol- 
lows as an irresistible conclusion from what we have al- 
ready determined respecting the period of Satan's binding. 
So surely as we have rightly fixed the chronology of that 
event, so surely does it coincide with a thousand years of 
the reign of the Beast, and consequently cannot designate 
that halcyon Millennium which is usually anticipated. 
There is no possible way that we can conceive of over- 



THE MILLENNIUM. 127 

throwing this conclusion, but by first disproving our inter- 
pretation of the main symbol, the Dragon. For if the 
Dragon be Paganism, the binding of the Dragon is the 
suppression of Paganism within the limits of the Roman 
world, and as history makes it evident that that event has 
long since transpired, the prevailing expectation on that 
subject as of something yet future is altogether fallacious. 
But what were the objects presented to the prophetic ken 
of the apostle in this part of the vision 1 They were such, 
indubitably, though clothed in a mystic dress, as to corre- 
spond with tJie actual state of things as described hi/ the pen 
of history. Upon recurrence then to the records of the 
times we find, that during the greater portion of that pe- 
riod the several independent kingdoms, from which the 
modern despotic states of Europe are descended, denoted 
by the ten horns of the Beast, were subsisting and con- 
tinually acquiring more vigor, and exercising a wider sway. 
We term them ' independent;' for although they submit- 
ted to the spiritual jurisdiction of the Pope, yet, politically 
considered, they were governed by laws and constitutions 
of their own framing, and were wholly independent of any 
foreign power. They are said indeed to have agreed to 
give their power and strength to the Beast ; or, in other 
words, to have devoted their service and support to the up- 
holding of the interests of that vast fabric of secular do- 
minion adumbrated by the Beast, and they are elsewhere 
termed ' the kings (kingdoms) of the earth ' over which 
' the great city,' represented by the mystic Woman, bare 
rule ; yet they were nevertheless, as viewed in relation to 
each other, and to every other mere civil power, strictly in- 
dependent. It is accordingly, we suppose, to these several 
independent sovereignties, as the most prominent objects 
of prophetic vision on the European platform, that the 
words of John distinctly refer. " I saw thrones, and they 
sat upon them (a Hebraism for ' they were sat upon'), and 



128 THE MILLENNIUM. 

judgment was given to them (i. e. to their occupants)." 
The meaning we apprehend to be, that he saw thrones 
erected and occupied in England, France, Spain, Portugal, 
Italy, and Germany, where there had been but one throne 
before ; and those who sat upon them were, in the counsels 
of Providence, invested with royal authority to order at 
their pleasure the affairs of the nations which they gov- 
erned. 

As this however is an interpretation of the phrase * judg- 
ment was given to them,' upon which much depends in 
our general expos'', of the meaning of the passage, it be- 
hoves us to endeavor to confirm it from the usage of the 
sacred writers. The original Heb. C32::53 mishpot^ of which 
the Greek y.uifjn, judgment, is a translation, is a derivative 
from the verb DD'J: shapat, signifying to judge, discern, 
determine, order, regulate, direct, and is in several instan- 
ces equivalent to reigning, or exercising authority as a ru- 
ler and a prince. Thus Judg. 16: 31, ' And he xz^^ judged 
Israel twenty years ;' i. e. governed. 1 Sam. 8: 20, ' That 
we also may be like all the nations ; and that our king 
Jirarr may judge us ; i. e. may rule over us. As to the sub- 
stantive DDv:;'^, to which the Greek >{o/a« or vglaiq answers, 
Lowth remarks, that it is taken in a great latitude of signifi- 
cation. It means rule, form, order, model, plan, rule of 
right, or of religion ; an ordinance, institution ; judicial pro- 
cess, cause, trial, sentence, condemnation, acquittal, de- 
liverance, mercy,' etc.* Thus Ps. 72: 1, * Give the king 
thy judgments, O God ;' Gr. to tiqI^u aov to" ^aadtldog, 
i. e. grant to the king commission to execute thy judgments, 
in punishing offenders, and discerning between the faithful 
and the false among thy people. Ps. 119: 84, ' When wilt 
thou execute judgmuit (Gr. y-qlcnv) on them that persecute 
me 1 i. e. inflict punishment. Numerous passages to the 

* Lowtli on Is. 42: 1. 



» 



THE MILLENNIUM. 129 

same effect might be readily adduced, from which the in- 
ference can scarcely fail to be drawn, that by judgment's 
being given to those that sat on the thrones, is meant, that 
they received authority to reign and govern, or the right of 
exercising judgment, according to the Hebrev/ sense of the 
word * judge,' which is equivalent to that of ' reigning,' or 
putting forth the judicial and executive acts of the govern- 
ing power. The drift of the language is to inform us, that 
the providence of God for wise reasons had permitted these 
sovereign powers to attain to a supremacy, which enabled 
them by their unrighteous statutes and exactions to exert 
an oppressive influence on the true church. In conse- 
quence, therefore, of this providential license, they passed 
their cruel and condemnatory sentences against the faithful 
followers of the Lamb, adjudging to tortures and to death 
those who persisted in a steadfast witnessing to the truth 
as it is in Jesus, and in an unshaken refusal to worship the 
Beast, whose power these kings had pledged themselves to 
uphold, or to receive his insignia on their foreheads or in 
their hands. 

We are aware that Mede and many other interpreters 
have, from the similarity of language of the two prophets, 
applied the vision of Daniel, ch. 7: 9-27, to this part of 
the Revelation. Daniel does, indeed, speak of ' thrones/ 
v. 9, but it is of thrones which were ' cast down,' or vio- 
lently subverted. He speaks also of the 'judgment sit- 
tincr ' and of * iudo-ment bein": given to the saints of the 
Most High,' but by this latter expression is evidently im- 
plied that judgment or sentence was given m favor of the 
saints, instead of against them, as was the case in John's 
vision, and undoubtedly points to a time subsequent to that 
spoken of in the Apocalypse, a time when the saints and 
martyrs should be rewarded by a 'judgment' of approba- 
tion and blessedness in view of their fidelity and constancy 
in suffering the effects of the ' judgments' which these des- 



130 THE MILLENNIUM. 

potic ' thrones' had previously inflicted upon them. The 
vision of Daniel, in fact, and the 'judgment' to which he 
alludes, has a prospective reference to the vindicatory judg- 
ment of the seventh Trumpet: Rev. 11: 18, 'And thy 
wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should 
be judged, and that thou shouldst give reward unto thy 
servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear 
thy name, small and great; and shouldst destroy them 
which destroy the earth.' The visions of the two prophets, 
therefore, though couched in analogous language, refer to 
entirely distinct events, and to periods of time separated by 
an interval of several hundred years. 

But there were other objects embraced in the scenic 
representation made to the intellectual eye of the seer. " I 
saw the souls («//i;/«c) of them that were beheaded ft:r the 
witness of Jesus, and for the word of God," etc. That is, 
he saw those who w^orshipped not the beast, and were suf- 
fering under the unrighteous edicts of these ' thrones,' the 
organs of papal persecution, as confessors and martyrs in 
defence of the pure unadulterated religion of Jesus ; the 
Waldenses and Albigenses in France, the Lollards in Ger- 
many and England, and others in other quarters of Eu- 
rope, who held to kindred views of the truth ; as such there 
were dispersed throughout Christendom during the darkest 
days of the church, a holy and blessed band of recusants 
against the pretensions and claims of the Man of Sin, while 
the mighty fabric of his power was towering up towards 
heaven. 

But can this interpretation be established from a fair 
and unforced exegesis of the text ? Of this let the reader 
judge. We proceed to lay before him the evidence on 
which it is founded. It is all along to be borne in mind 
that John, in witnessing the visionary scenes described in 
the Revelation, is under the influence of a prophetic ec- 
stasy, or supernatural ill apse of the Holy Spirit. In this 



THE MILLENNIUM. 131 

state the functions of the external senses are in abeyance, 
and the objects seen are exhibited exclusively to the men- 
tal perception of the beholder. The prophet's imagina- 
tion is made, by the special operation of divine power, a 
canvass on which the various objects and agents of the vis- 
ion are depicted ; or rather it becomes, if we may so say, 
the screen on which the shadowy forms of the mystic dio- 
rama are thrown, and made to pass in review, like the 
scenery produced by the art of the optician. If, therefore, 
either living men or lifeless corpses are introduced into the 
train of the visionary objects, it is obvious that they would 
appear to him as the phantasms of a dream, mere images, 
forms, shadows, like the umhrcB or gliosis, seen by ^neas in 
the Elysian fields. So Ezekiel, in the description of the 
vision of the cherubic throne, ch. 1: 26, says : ' And upon 
the likeness of the throne was the likeness as the apptcw- 
ance of a man above it.' Now we think it may be shown 
that the most appropriate term in biblical Greek for the ex- 
pression of this idea is ^^l'yJ], answering to the Litin anima, 
soul, the word here employed. A very slight inspection of 
the original scriptures will evince that the sense ordinarily 
affixed to the English word soul, implying a disembodied 
immaterial spirit, by no means answers to the predominant 
import of either the Hebrew \i:^: ncplirsli, or the Greek 
ipvyj]. In the usage of the sacred writers its leading sense 
is that of persons. Thus Gen. xvii, ' That soul (Gr. v"7'i, 
person) shall be cut off.' Ex. 1:5,' All the souls (Gr. id.) 
that came out of the loins of Jacob.' Lev. 4: 2, ' If a soul 
(Gr. id.) shall sin through ignorance.' V. 27, ^\{ any one 
(Gr. id.) of the common people sin through ignorance.' 
Lev. 7: 23, 'But the soul (Gr. id.) that eateth of the flesh 
of the sacrifice.' Lev. 22: 11, 'If the priest buy any soul 
(Gr. id.) with his money.' Deut. 24: 7, ' If a man be 
found stealing any (Gr. id.) of his brethren.' 2 Sam. 14: 
14, ' Neither doth God respect any person (Gr. id.)' Ezek. 



132 THE MILLENNIUM. 

27: 13, 'They traded the per sojis (Gr. id.) of men.' Acts 
2: 43, 'Fear came upon every soul (Gr. id.).' 2 Pet. 2: 
14, ' Beguiling unstable souls (Gr. id.).' Rev. 18: 13, 
*The merchandize of gold and silver, — and slaves and 
souls (Gr. id.) of men.' It is obvious that in all these 
instances the acceptation of the term has no relation to the 
sow/ in contradistinction from the body; and the biblical 
student who has never made the scriptural usus loqucndi 
in respect to this word a matter of critical examination will 
be surprised, upon reference to a concordance, to find how 
very few are the cases in which it can possibly be under- 
stood as equivalent to our English term * soul ' in its meta- 
physical sense. Indeed he will perhaps cease to wonder 
that some able Christian writers have seriously doubted 
whether it ever really bears tliat sense at all, or, in other 
words, whether the doctrine of the intermediate separate 
state of human spirits can be solidly supported merely up- 
on the scriptural usage of this and its kindred terms.* But 
thit it cannot have this sense in the passage before us is 
evident from another consideration. How could the pro- 
phet see an immaterial soul ? The soul is not, in its own 
nature, a substance capable of coming under the cogni- 
zance of the senses ; and even in the shadowings of a pro- 
phetic vision, a soul, in order to be exhibited to the per- 
cipient, must assume more or less of the properties of a 
corporeal being. But the moment it becomes invested 
with the attributes of corporeity, as it must in order to be 
an object of visionary representation, it is at once trans- 
formed to precisely such an entity, shade, ghost, or phan- 
tasm, as we afRrm to have constituted, to the prophet's 
mind, the visible image of a man, as composed of body and 
soul united. And such we contend to have been the real 



* See tills question treated fully and learnedly in Bishop Law's 
' Essay concernin;r the us«" of the words Soul, or Spirit,' in the 
Appendix to his 'Considerations on the Theory of Religion.' 



THE MILLENNIUM. 133 

objects seen in the entranced perception of the prophet. 
He beheld the persons of the martyrs who were beheaded, 
or otherwise put to death, for the testimony of Jesus ; and 
he beheld them in such an aspect, or under such a form, 
as was appropriate and congruous to the general character 
of the imagery which he was called to contemplate. 

The term ' souls' then, employed in the language of 
this vision, far from denoting the immaterial part of the 
martyrs in distinction from their bodies, and far also from 
implying the revival of the spirit of the martyrs in a sub- 
sequent generation, is in fact but another name for the 
' persons' of the martyrs themselves living in the times of 
the Beast, and signalizing their fidelity by withstanding his 
usurpations. Whether, however, it were the design of the 
Holy Spirit to intimate by the use of this term that the 
' persons' spoken of had actually been slain at the time to 
which the vision refers, is a matter somewhat doubtful. 
That they were in a state of active existence of some kind 
at the time they were seen, there can be no doubt, as they 
are represented as reigning with Christ, but whether it 
were an existence enjoyed prior or subsequent to their be- 
ing beheaded is not of so easy solution. We incline on 
the whole to the latter opinion, as in Rev. 6: 9, we find 
the term manifestly employed in this sense. " And when 
he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls 
of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the 
testimony which they held : And they cried with a loud 
voice, saying. How long, O Lord," etc. Here again we 
are forbidden by the nature of the symbolic imagery to af- 
fix to ' souls' the sense of departed spirits. For with what 
propriety could a disembodied immaterial spirit be repre- 
sented as ' crying with a loud voice,' or as being clothed 
' with white robes V These are circumstances which 
must necessarily be predicated of beings possessed of an or- 
ganized corporeal existence of some kind, and doubtless 
12 



134 THE MILLENNIUM. 

the true idea intended to be conveyed by the word ' souls' 
in this connexion is very similar to that of the pcets Ho- 
mer, Virgil, and Ossian in speaking of the shades cf de- 
parted heroes.* But there is a peculiar fitness from scrip- 
tural usage in employing this term in reference to those 
who had lost their lives by martyrdom. For we find that 
the sacred writers denominate the blood of any creature 
its life or soul. Thus Gen. 9: 4, lUiiv y.Qmq iv uif^ari ipv~ 
Xn<; ov (payea&s — hut Jlcsh 2vith the blood of its life shall ye 
not cat. Deut. 12: 23, "Ori m^u uviov ipv/f) — for the blood 
of it is the life, or soul. Accordingly Christ is said, Is. 
53: 12, to have ' poured out his souT because he shed his 
blood unto death. And again in v. 1 0, of the same chap- 
ter, it is said, ' When thou shall make his soul an offering 
for sin ;' i. e. shall make his blood, or his life, an offering. 
This is strikingly paralleled by the usage of the classic 
writers. Tlius Virgil has, ' Purpuream vomit ille animam' 
—vomited forth his purple life, or soul; and Horace, ' Non 
vanre redeat sanguis imagini' — the blood may not return to 
the lifeless form ; where the commentator remarks, ' San- 
guis est vita' — the blood is the life. Now the blood or soul 
of the victims which were sacrificed under the Jewish 
economy was poured out upon or about the altar in such 
a way, that it all flowed at last to the bottom, and there 
remained. Lev. 4: 18, ' And the priest shall pour out all 
the blood at the bottom of the altar of the burnt offering, 
which is at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.' 
As martyrdom, therefore, was a kind of sacrifice perform- 
ed by the martyrs in shedding or pouring out their blood, 
and offering their bodies to God, as appears from the lan- 
guage of Paul, Phil. 2: 17, * Yea, and if I be offered upon 
the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy and rejoice 

*Thns Homer, in the opening of the Iliad ; 
IJoDAg u itfd-ifiovg xpvyag aiSi TTQoi'aypev 
^H^omv.— And prematurely sent many brave souls to Orcus. 



THE MILLENNIUM. 135 

with you all ;' and again, 2 Tim. 4: 6, * For I am now 
ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at 
hand ;' the souls, accordingly, of those who had been thus 
slain and offered, are very appropriately represented as be- 
ing ' under the altar,' i. e. round about the base of the al- 
tar, where the vital blood of the victims flowed. Guided 
by this train of remark we shall not probably err in assign- 
ing to ^ivyjiQ, souls, an analogous import in the vision un- 
der consideration, especially as ipv/i] in several instances 
in the Septuagint version occurs in the sense of a dead 
body. Thus Lev. 19: 28, 'Ye shall not make any cut- 
tings in your flesh for the dead (Gr. inl j/^i'//J).' Num. 6: 
11, * For he that sinned (contracted defilement) hy the 
dead (Gr. ni<jl Ti]g i/^i/jjc)' i. e. by touching a dead body. 
Lev. 21: 1, 'Speak unto the priests, the sons of Aaron, 
and say unto them. There shall none be defiled for the 
dead (Gr. h rtxlg ijivyj/ic) among his people.' Ezek. 44: 
25, ' And they shall come at no dead person (Gr. inl ipv- 
xh*') to defile themselves.' 

But these souls thus shed, or dead, are at the same time 
portrayed as actually living and reigning with Christ dur- 
ing the thousand years. The death therefore which they 
suffered could not have been such as materially to affect 
their existence. In some sense they still continued to live ; 
for it does not seem possible to understand the language of 
any other class of men than the very identical martyrs 
spoken of, and who are unequivocally determined by the 
expressions * for the witness of Jesus,' and ' for the word 
of God.' It cannot imply, therefore, the restoration to life 
of those who had died in former ages by the hands of Jew- 
ish or Heathen persecutors, but a class of men are desig- 
nated of whom it might be said without detriment to the 
truth, that though they were dead, yet still they lived. This 
of coarse brings us to the necessity of a more close and ac- 
curate analysis of certain terms occurring in this connec- 



136 THE MILLENNIUM. 

tion, the true explication of which is indispensable to a 
right view of the passage. Is it, then, according to the 
style either of Christ or the apostles, or of the Holy Spirit 
in any other part of the sacred volume, to speak of life or 
of living in a sense which the mere fact of physical death 
destroys not, affects not ? Is there a spiritual in contra- 
distinction from the animal life, which may properly be 
said to survive the dissolution of soul and body, and tri- 
umph over the potency of the grave ? In attempting a re- 
ply to this question, the following passages bear too directly 
upon the point to be overlooked. Ps. 22: 26, ' The meek 
shall eat and be satisfied : they shall praise the Lord that 
seek him : your heart shall live for evcr.^ Upon which 
Ainsworth remarks, — " The living of the heart importeth 
also the cheering, comfort, and solace of the same ; as in 
Gen. 45: 27, * And when he saw the wagons which Jo- 
seph had sent to carry him, the spirit of Jacob their father 
revived (Heb. liveciy " In like manner, Ps. 69: 32, ' The 
humble shall see this and be glad : and your heart shall 
live that seek God.' Still more apposite are the following : 
John 11: 25, * Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection 
and the life : he that hclievcth on me, though he were dead, 
yet shall he live : and lohosocvcr livcth and bclirvcth in me 
shall never die.'' Luke 20: 37, 38, * Now that the dead are 
raised, even Moses showed at the bush, when he calleth the 
Lord the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the 
God of Jacob. For he is not a God of the dead, but of the 
living : for all live unto him.^ John 6: 50, 51, * This is 
the bread that cometh down from heaven, that a man may 
eat thereof, and not die. I am the living bread which came 
down from heaven : if any man eat of this bread, he shall 
live for ever.'' A similar phraseology is applied in its most 
emphatic sense to Christ. Rev. 1: 17, 18, ' And he laid 
his right hand upon me, saying unto me, I am the first and 
the last ; I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, 



THE MILLENNIUM. 137 

I am alive for evermore.' Rom. 6: 10, * For in that he 
died, he died unto sin once ; but in that he liveth, he liveth 
unto God.' In this spiritual and eternal life of Christ, in- 
cluding in it the fulness of holy joy, blessedness, and peace, 
the true disciples of the Saviour are frequently represented 
as participating. John 14: 19, ' Because / live, ye shall 
live also, 2 Cor. 13: 4, ' For though he was crucified 
through weakness, yet he liveth by the power of God. For 
we also are weak in him, but lue shall live with him by the 
power of God toward you.' Again, that the word ' live ' 
is used in a figurative sense akin to that which we attribute 
to it in the passage before us will appear from 1 Thess. 3: 
8, ' For now we live, if ye stand fast in the Lord.' 

Is it not possible, then, from this array of quotations, to 
educe the true signification of the term ' live,' as applied to 
the martyrs whose ' souls ' the prophet beheld in vision ? 
Is not its genuine import that of spiritual life ? Is it not 
the designed implication of the Holy Spirit, that in the 
midst of surrounding apostasy these faithful * souls,' with 
unwavering persistency, stood to their testimony, and from 
the vigor and vitality of their faith, might be said in the 
highest and best sense to live, while moral corruption, open 
defection, and spiritual death were spreading their ravages 
on every side ? Was not the steadfast cleaving to the 
truth, the resolute maintenance of the life of godliness in 
their souls, and the unshrinking resistance even unto blood 
to the claims and usurpations of an Antichristian pow^r, 
a conduct fitly characterized as at once a ' living ' and 
' reigning ' with Christ ? True, they might be put to death ; 
they might encounter persecution, torture, and martyrdom 
in their most appalling forms; the fiercest malignity of the 
Beast and the unsparing ire of ' thrones ' and potentates 
might wreak itself upon their heads, still they were ' more 
than conquerors ;' the martyr's crown was the badge of 
their blessed kingship ; and in them was illustriously ful- 
■ 12* 



138 THE MILLENNIUM. 

filled the truth of the inspired saying : ''If we suffer we 
shall also reign with him." They reigned in fact in their 
sufferings. 

Now when it is considered that the Holy Spirit had a 
prospective design in framing the imagery and the phrase- 
ology of this remarkable vision ; that it was devised and 
put on record in great measure for the behoof of those who 
should actually he called to suffer, that their spirits might 
be armed beforehand for the terrible conflict, we can 
see an adequate reason for painting the scene in very vivid 
colors. It was fitting, in the nature of the case, that it 
should be so exhibited as to operate as a powerful motive in 
reconciling the minds of the faithful to the prospect of suf- 
fering. They would evidently need, in looking forward to 
a fiery trial of their faith, to have the circumstances of their 
fate and the prospect of its issues so depicted, that they 
could read their reward in close connection with their en- 
durance, and accordingly the vision is so described, is 
couched in such a peculiar style, as to be admirably calcu- 
lated to produce this effect. But is there any absolute ne- 
cessity which prescribes that the same construction should 
be put upon the words by those who lived before, and those 
who lived after the event ? Is no allowance to be made 
for the progress of scriptural illumination in subsequent 
ages ? Suppose that the simple-minded martyrs of a for- 
mer day, in the period of a great moral and intellectual 
darkness, should have adopted a more gross interpretation 
of the mystic imagery of the Apocalypse, and should have 
imagined that the ' thrones,' here spoken of, were destined 
for them to sit and reign upon as co-assessors with Christ 
in a predicted Millennial regency, yet who was harmed by 
it ? In what respect did the interest of truth suffer ? We 
are certain that their final remuneration was no less glori- 
ous than they were thus led to anticipate, and if their ex- 
pecting it under this peculiar form tended to animate and 



THE MILLENNIUM. 139 

cheer them in their excruciating sufferings ; if it gave ad- 
ditional strength to their resolution and lustre to their pa- 
tience ; if, in a word, their interpretation was the best 
adapted of any other to their peculiar circumstances and 
exigencies, why should we object to the idea of their having 
rested upon a construction which was not perhaps intrinsi- 
cally the most correct ? And why should we, whose lot is 
cast in an age far more propitious to the explication of the 
mysteries of revelation, from so many of them having been 
accomplished, feel bound to abide by the views of a less en- 
lightened period 1 May not the very same portion of holy 
writ afford milk to babes, and strong meat to grown men 1 
But in order to redeem our present interpretation from 
the possible charge of novelty, paradox, and extravagance, 
we are happy to be able to adduce the suffrage of no less a 
master of exegetical theology than the celebrated Witsius. 

" These sentiments," says he (namely, that there will be a 
resurrection of all — righteous and wicked — at one and the 
same time), "are clearly deducible from the constant and 
unvarying doctrine of the Scriptures, and from sound reason. 
They who think differently, however, have something to pro- 
duce as the ground of their opinion. They found it in par- 
ticular on Rev. 20: 4 — 6, where John gives an account of a 
certain period of the church, in which the Devil and Satan 
is to be bound a thousand years. 'And I saw thrones,' he 
adds, ' and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto 
them: and I saw the souls of them that w-ere beheaded,' etc. 

"But even in this passage, if we only examine, we shall 
find that it contains no such thing as that which these men 
suppose they discover in it. John does not affirm that he 
saw the souls of them that were beheaded, much less that he 
saw the martyrs themselves that were beheaded, sitting upon 
thrones. He says only that he saw thrones, and those who 
sat upon them, not determining w^ho they were: or rather 
making it sufficiently plain that this is not to be understood 
of souls. For the words employed do not admit of this in- 
terpretation. In the Greek they are y.al xqI/uci edodi] avTolg. 
But if the reference had been to souls [lag ipv^ag) (xi'Tulg 



140 THE MILLENNIUM. 

would have been used. — Fiu-ther, he does not say, that he 
saw that the men who were belieaded lived again ; far less 
that the bodies of the beheaded lived again on the earth. 
He asserts merely, that he saw the souls of them that were 
beiieuded, not living again, but living; that is, filled with un- 
ceasing joy, as Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob live to God ; and 
reigning with Christ, namely, in the kiugdom of glory, where 
they reap the fruit of their labors and death, whilst they be- 
hold the enlargement of the church during these thousand 
years. 

" Besides the souls of those which had been beheaded 
which he saw in heaven, John saw on earth those (observe, 
it is not the souls of those, but the persons themselves) who did 
not worship the beast nor his image, etc.; that is, those who, 
adhering steadfastly to Christ, determined to have no fellow- 
ship with Antichrist. These also lived, enjoying a blessed 
peace of conscience and a rich abundance of spiritual conso- 
lation — and reigned with Christ a thousand years. Not that 
their lives as individuals extended to a thousand years, for 
this never was and never will be the lot of any mortal, but 
men of that description reigned during many successive ages, 
till the a|)pointed period. And if you strongly urge their 
living again, this may be affirmed of these also, for they lived 
again, inasmuch as under the tyranny of the beast that de- 
scription of men had lately been harassed, oppressed, re- 
duced to a small number, and involved in such difficulties 
and privations, that they scarcely lived, or discovered any 
principle of vitality at all ; but now the face of affairs being 
ch.inged, their numbers are iucreased, and breathing a freer 
air, they move all their limbs with ease and spirit." — H. Wit- 
sii Exer. Sac. p. 513—516. Amstel. 1697. 

It will be observed, that the above extract does not pre- 
sent, in every point, an exact accordancy with our forego- 
ing exposition, but the agreement in the main particulars 
is sufficiently marked for the purposes of illustration. — 
Leaving then the preceding interpretation to be judged of 
by its own merit, we proceed to the consideration of the 
further particulars of the vision. 

" But the rest of the dead lived not again, until the thou- 
sand years were fulfilled." The ol lomol jwv vtx^Mi — the 



THE MILLENNIUM. 141 

rest of the dead, here spoken of, are evidently mentioned 
by way of antithesis to the * living' and ' reigning' martyrs 
alluded to in the preceding verse ; and if we have succeed- 
ed in showing that by the one class are to be understood 
the spiritually living, it will follow that by the other are 
to be understood the spiritually dead, as otherwise the 
point of the opposition is altogether lost. The prophet, it 
will be recollected, or the Holy Spirit by the prophet, is 
describing a dark and disastrous period of the church, a 
time when the Beast was rising to the zenith of his power, 
and when the great mass of the nominally Christian world 
had acknowledged his dominion, and taken upon them his 
mark. This vast multitude constituted ' the rest of the 
dead,' an expression which Pareus affirms to be equivalent 
io ol lovnol v^y.Qol — the rest, {even) the dead; as in Rev. 
9: 20, the phrase ol XoluoI imv uvty{iu)TiMv — the rest of the 
men which were not killed by these plagues , is plainly equiv- 
alent to ol koinol ol nv&Q(xmoi — the rest {even) the men, 
which were not killed, since otherwise the expression would 
involve a contradiction in terms, the object of the writer 
being to make a distinction between those \v1k) were killed 
and those who were not. During this calamitous era, 
therefore, the body of professed Christians throughout the 
dominions of the ten Kings who occupied the ' thrones' of 
the vision, was divided into two great classes, those who 
were spiritucdly living and those who were spiritually 
dead, the latter constituting the vast majority in point of 
numbers, and being elsewhere described as 'all the world 
that wondered after the beast,' and again alluded to Rev. 
13: 8, where it is said that ' power was given him (the Beast) 
over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations ; and all that 
dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are 
not written in the hook of life (the roll or catalogue of the 
living) of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.' 
They were those in fact who constituted the members of 



142 



THE MILLENNIUM. 



that grand Apostasy, headed by the character so clearly 
predicted and so largely described by the Apostle under 
the denomination of ' the Man of Sin.' These then were 
the spiritually and mystically dead, ' for he that liveth in 
sin is dead while he liveth.' No ray of the light of life 
beamed on the darkness of their Millennial night. They 
were in a state of moral dormancy and deliquium, from 
which it is the scope of this passage to assure us that they 
should not be awakened so as to lire through the lapse of 
that protracted period. But does the language, rightly in- 
terpreted, imply that they should live offtr the expiration 
of that term ? By no means. The drift of the Spirit of 
inspiration is merely to intiuiate that tlie latter class were 
distinguished from the former by the tact, that those who 
composed it did ?tot live through the memorable peritid of 
the thousand years, without at all necessitating the infer- 
ence that they did live after the period had expired. It 
is a well established canon of interpretation, that adverbs, 
denoting a termination of time, are, notwithstanding, oflen 
intended, not to intimate an actual termination, but, on the 
contrary, to signify perpetuity. Thus Ps. 1 10: 1, ' Sit thou 
at my riglif-hand ;////// T make thine eneuiies thy footstool.' 
Is it at all implied by this that Christ should erase to sit at 
his Father's right-hand when his enemies were brought in- 
to subjection ? So also Is. 22: 15, * This iniquity shall not 
be purged till ye die.' But are we to infer that it should 
be purged theu ? Certainly not. It is equivalent to say- 
ing it should never be purged. In like manner 1 Sam. 15: 
35, * Samuel came no more laitil the day of his death ;' i. e. 
never came any more. 2 Sam. 6: 2:J, ' Michal had no 
children until the day of her death ;' i. e. never had any. 
Rom. 5: 13, * For until the law, sin was in the world.' 
But did sin cease after the entrance of the law ? Obvi- 
ously the writer's aim is to state a particular fact in respect 
to a particular period of time, without in the least intimat- 



THE MILLENNIUM. 143 

ing that that fact ceased when the period ceased. So m 
the present instance. Nothing farther is intended to be 
affirmed respecting ' the rest of the dead ' than that they 
did not, like those to whom they are opposed, live during 
the memorable Millennium. As to what happened to them 
after that period, nothing is expressly said ; but in con- 
formity to the usage just illustrated, the inference is that 
they never lived in the sense in which living is predicated 
of the ' souls' of the martyrs. We are aware, indeed, that 
the phrase ' lived not again' may be thought to militate 
with this construction ; but although it cannot be doubted 
that our translators read in their copies avi'C^mrav, lived 
again, yet it is remarkable that some of the most approved 
editions of the New Testament, as that of Knapp for in- 
stance, reject this as a corrupt reading, and insert e'Crjaav, 
lived. There is little doubt that uvi'C}](Tav has crept into 
the text from the construction put upon iQtidav in the pre- 
ceding verse. As in the prevailing views of the Millen- 
nium that word was understood to signify a literal resur- 
rection, or living again, the inference would not be un- 
natural, that when the same thing was denied of a certain 
class of men, the term employed would of course be one 
having the same signification, only preceded by a negative. 
This affords a specimen of the manner in which men's pre- 
conceived hypotheses have been suffered to warp, not their 
interpretation only, but the very reading of the sacred text. 
" This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he 
that hath part in the first resurrection : on such the second 
death hath no power ; but they shall be priests of God and 
of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years." The 
original avaaianiq, resurrection, we apprehend to be here 
used as the abstract for the concrete, strictly denoting the 
persons who composed the resurrection. Thus Rom. 3: 30, 
* Seeing it is one God which shall justify the circumcision 
(i. e. those who are circumcised) by faith, and the uncir- 



144 THE MILLENNIUM. 

cumcision (i. e. those who are not circumcised) through 
faith.' So also Rom. 4: 9, ' Cometh this blessedness then 
upon the circumcision only, or upon the unci r cumcision 
also?' Gal. 2: 9, 'That we should go unto the heathen, 
and they unto the circumcision (the Jews).' Phil. 3: 3, 
' We are the circumcision (the circumcised ones).' Phil. 
3: 2, 'Beware of the concision (the concisionists).' Rom. 
11: 7, ' The election (the elect ernes) hath obtained it.' In 
like manner, the expression, ' This is the first resurrec- 
tion', we understand as equivalent to ' This is the first body 
of resurrectionists.' Not that we suppose a literal corpo- 
real resurrection to be intended, — for it does not appear 
that there is to be a first and second literal resurrection, — 
but a mystical and spiritual one ; a resurrection which 
shall answer to the explanation given above of the ' living' 
of the saints and martyrs of the Millennial era. Repent- 
ance and abandonment of sin, conversion to truth and ho- 
liness, devout obedience to the divine commandments, a 
determined but humble perseverance in maintaining * the 
testimony of Jesus and the word of God,' a resolute pur- 
pose to withstand at all hazards the aggressive usurpations 
of antichristianism, may justly be deemed a conduct wor- 
thy to be characterized as a resurrection to spiritual life, 
and therefore properly attributed to the noble band of con- 
fessors and witnesses whose bright example "of courage, 
constancy, zeal, faith, and patience, relieved the darkness 
of that gloomy period. 

In reference, therefore, to a more general and powerful 
and glorious triumph of the gospel, a revivescence of right- 
eousness still more illustrious, to be enjoyed in subsequent 
ages of the church, this is termed by way of distinction ' the 
Jirst resurrection.' And of this resurrection tlie subjects 
are pronounced to be ' holy and blessed,' inasmuch as they 
are fivored with a happy immunity from the j>m/ of being 
involved in ' the second death,' though they might be called 



THE MILLENNIUM. 14$ 

to endure the pains of the first. This expression, which 
occurs in no other part of the Scriptures but in the Apoca- 
lypse, viz. ch. 2: 11, 'He that overcometh shall not be 
hurt of the second death;'' and ch. 20: 14, ' And death and 
hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is tlie second death, ^ 
is not perhaps susceptible of an explication so clear and 
satisfactory as could be desired. It is a phrase of Rabbinic 
rather than of scriptural origin, and is evidently used to de- 
note some fearful kind of punishment to be inflicted upon 
transgressors, whose guilt was of a deep dye, in some an- 
ticipated state called by them ' the world to come.' But 
until we are enabled to learn with more precision than has^ 
yet been practicable, the real sense affixed by Jewish writers 
to the phrase ' world to come,' we must remain in a great 
measure ignorant of the exact import of the expression 

* second death.' In the mean time, the only clew which 
we possess to guide us to its meaning is afforded by the 
following passages, collected from the ChaldeeParaphrasts. 
Deut. 33: 6, ' Let Reuben live and not die.' Jerus. Targ. 

* Vivat Reuben in seculo hoc, neque moriatur morte se- 
Gunda ' — let Reuben live in this world, and let him not die 
the SECOND DEATH. The Targum of Jonathan, however, 
has, ' Nee moriatur morte qua moriuntur improbi in futu- 
ro seculo' — nor let him die the death which the wicked die 
in the loorld to come.'' Is. 22: 14, ' Surely this iniquity 
shall not be purged from you, till ye die.' Targ. 'Donee 
moriamini morte secinida ' — till ye die the second death. 
Is. 65: 6, ' But will recompense, even recompense into 
their bosom.' Targ. ' Et tradam morti secundae corpora 
eorum ' — and I ?vill deliver their bodies to the second 
death. Is. 6: 15, ' The Lord shall slay thee.' Targ. ' In- 
terficiet vos Dominus morte secunda ' — the Lord shall slay 
you with the second death. Jer. 51: 39, ' That they may 
sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, saith the Lord.' 
Targ. ' Sed moriantur morte secunda, et non vivant in 

13 



146 THE MILLENNIUM. 

seculo futuro' — hut let them die the second death, and not 
live in the world to come. Ps. 49: 10, ' For he seeth that 
wise men die.' Targ. ' Quoniam videbit sapientes impro- 
bos, qui moriuntur morte secunda, at adjudicantur Gehennae' 
— since he shall see the wicked wise men loho die the second 
DEATH, and adjudged to hell. Although, therefore, Coc- 
ceius understands by the ' second death ' in this passage 
merely final apostasy, or hopeless obduration of heart ;* 
yet it is probable that it points to the ultimate irrevocable 
doom of the lost after death. If so, the drift of the prophet 
is to convey the assurance, that the blessed participants of 
the first resurrection should not only enjoy all the present 
happiness and triumph, included in their ' living ' and 
* reigning ' state on earth, but in addition to this, should 
be crovi^ned with the prerogative of exemption from the 
fearful lot of those who might finally sink beyond redemp- 
tion into the woes and horrors of the ' second death.' 

The Holy Spirit having thus completed all that it was 
necessary to say respecting the state of things within the 
limits of Christendom during the period of Satan's restraint, 
having fully acquainted us with the sufferings and trials of 
the victims of papal persecution, another transition now 
occurs in the thread of the visionary narrative, and he pro- 
ceeds to the memorable finale of the Dragon's machinations 
against the church, eventuating in his own defeat and de- 
struction.t The consideration of this part of our subject 
will form the matter of the ensuing chapter. 



* Qui autem revixt^runt, ii heati sunt, (\\\\a. justi-sancti, f{\un. a 
Spiritu Sancto sanctificati ad amorem veritatis. Propter eaui cau- 
sam secunda mors, dvojui'a aTTOGTaoia^ induralio, in eos potestatem 
non habel. Regeniti non deficerent ; quia hcati et sanrtl sunt; 
h. e. quia a Deo justificali sunt et arrliabonem Spiritiis a Deo ac- 
ceperunt, et eo signati sunt. — Coc. in Rev 21: C'. 

t " Because Satan was still to play a last game before he was 
condemned to his final judgment, by which he shall be quite driven 



THE MILLENNIUM. 147 

from having anything to do with mankind ; the Holy Ghost goes 
on now to show us how he comes to his end in seeking, when 
loosed out of prison, to regain his dominion over men by assaulting 
even Christ and his saints, all over his kingdom ; even to the very 
attacking of the blessed and holy city. The prison therefore is the 
ahyss wherein he was chained. We have no hints at all to make 
us determine what, and where, this prison shall be ; whether Sa- 
tan indeed shall, during the Millennium, be quite without visible vo- 
taries, or whether he shall have some such, but in so low a condi- 
tion, and so much penned up, that he shall be as in a prison among 
them, without capacity to make excursions to disturb the peace of 
the world. If this last be true, it is likely that it will be among 
some of those nations which are called Gog and Magog in the next 
verse, and ichich he will then seduce to disturb Christ's kingdom.r^ 
Daubuz Perpet. Comment, p. 943. 



148 THE MILLENNIUM. 

CHAPTER V. 

EXPLICATION OF THE GOG AND MAGOG OF THE APOCALYPSE. 

" And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall 
be loosed out of his prison, and shall go out to deceive the 
nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog 
and Magog, to gather them together to battle ; the number 
of whom is as the sand of the sea." No part of the Reve- 
lation has given rise to a greater diversity of opinion, or to 
wilder or more extravagant conjectures, than this announce- 
ment of the future appearance and exploits, defeat and de- 
struction, of the mystic Gog and Magog. On the one 
hand, the tremendous power shadowed forth by this de- 
nomination has been summoned up from the then barba- 
rous and pagan hemisphere of America and the Terra Aus- 
tralis Incognita. On the other, they have been generated, 
like the classical Python, by the productive heat of the sun, 
from the teeming slime of the renovated earth. Again, the 
bars of the grave have been burst in quest of them, and 
they have been resolved into countless armies of the risen 
dead, to whom a resurrection to life has been but a resur- 
rection to their former fiendish malignity against the people 
of the saints, by which they are now urged on to a new as- 
sault against the holy and happy portion of the universe. 
Mede, Burnet, and Gill, are the distinguished names by 
which these strange hypotheses are severally endorsed, and 
their credit has given them currency, to a greater or less 
extent, among others of inferior note. Another class of 
writers, giving a purely mystical import to the appellation, 
suppose it to be intended merely as a figurative term de- 
noting the enemies of the church in general, whether Pa- 
gan, Mohammedan, or pseudo-Christian.* 

* The objection to this mode of interpretation is well stated by 



THE MILLENNIUM. 149 

As, however, the views of expositors respecting the Gog 
and Magog of the Apocalypse have been governed entirely 
by their theories of the Millennium, it is not surprising that 
they should have broached the most fanciful constructions 
of the sacred text. For as long as they regarded the Mil- 
lennium itself as yet future, they were obliged of course to 
consider the entrace of these hostile powers upon the pro- 
phetic arena at the end of the thousand years, as also fu- 
ture. They would as soon have sought for the living 
among the dead, as to have recurred to history for the iden- 
tification of those mystic personages. But as the future is 
the field of conjecture, iiilagination has been suffered to 
run riot in the attempt to conjure up from among the 
shadows of coming ages the mysterious characters here 
described. That we look upon all such anticipations as 
groundless and chimerical, the reader will have inferred 
from the foregoing train of remark. Regarding the Mil- 
lennium as long since past, we of course recur for the ful- 
filment of the prediction concerning Gog and Magog to the 
pages of history, instead of the auguries of prophecy ; and 
as the establishment of our main theory respecting the 
chronology of the Millennium affords a sixoug prima facie 
evidence that the event in question has at least entered 
upon a course of accomplishment, so the positive proof of 



Calovius: — " Sed nimis manifestuin est, describi cerium regnum, 
ac certos populos, quorum nomina, provincias, et situm expressit 
Spiritus Sanctus, neque in tarn operosa populorum a nominibus 
gentilibus, et patronymicis descriptione, ilia omnia allegorice ex- 
poni possunt, nisi vim textui insignem facere velimus" — * liut it 
is too obvious, that a particular kingdom is described, and certain 
people, whose name, provinces, and situation are expressly desig- 
nated by the Holy Spirit; nor in such a labored description of peo- 
ple by their gentile and patronymic denomination can all these 
things be understood allegoricalhj unless we would do positive vio- 
lence to the text.' — Caloviits in loc. 

13* 



150 THE MILLENNIUM. 

the latter position will be found to reflect back a powerful 
confirmation of the former. 

And here it may be remarked in the outset, that it can 
scarcely have escaped the notice of the reader of the Apoc- 
alypse, that the mention of this hostile power, whatever it 
may be, is extremely brief and obscure, and accompanied 
with no clew which might serve to aid the inquirer in his 
attempts to identify it. In other parts of the book involv- 
ing mysterious revelations, hints and intimations are thrown 
out formally or incidentally, with the express design of 
enabling us to apply the symbolical shadows to their ap- 
propriate substances. But nothing of the kind occurs in 
regard to Gog and Magog. They are, like Melchizedek 
in the history of Moses, suddenly introduced upon the 
stage, and after acting a part of great moment, as suddenly 
dismissed, and nothing more is heard of them. But what 
is the inference to be drawn from this feature of the pro- 
phetic narrative ? Does it not indicate unequivocally that 
the Spirit of inspiration prfsumrs upon a certain amount of 
information in the reader's mind derived or derivable from 
other portions of the sacred volume ? As the whole sys- 
tem of inspired prophecy, both in the Old Testament and 
the New, is intimately connected together, the visions of 
John being in most cases merely an expansion of the more 
dense and involved revelations of Isaiah, Ezekiel, or Dan- 
iel, so where any particular series of events is more fully 
developed by one prophet, we should of course expect it to 
be more succinctly given by another. Here, then, we are 
persuaded, we have the true grounds of the brevity of the 
Holy Spirit in the passage before us satisfactorily laid open. 
For it so happens that in the book of Ezekiel, ch. xxxviii 
and xxxix, we have a strikingly parallel prophecy detailing 
at great length and with the utmost minuteness every par- 
ticular respecting the Apocalyptic Gog and Magog which 
can be necessary for a complete explication of this part of 



THE MILLENNIUM. 151 

the vision. The two prophets unquestionably allude to 
precisely the same power, the same period, and the same 
events, and the reader will probably be surprised at the ex- 
tent to which the one is capable of being made to illustrate 
the other.* 

The necessity, therefore, is forced upon us of entering 
into a minute consideration of the Old Testament prophecy 
in order to do full justice to our exposition of the language 
of John. Still we do not hesitate to assure the reader that 
he will experience no diminution of interest in passing from 
the one to the other. We are still engaged in the pleasing 
task of exploring the * chambers of imagery ' in the august 
temple of prophecy, all of them replete with treasures of 
more value than the catacombs of Egypt. 

EZEKIEL, CH. XXXVIII XXXIX. 

" And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, 2. Son 
of man, set thy face against Gog, the land of Magog, the chief 
prince of Meshech and Tubal, and ])rophesy against hiin, 3. 
And say. Thus saith the Lord Go(l ; Behold, I am against 
thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal : 4. And 
I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws, and I will 
bring thee forth, and all lliine army, horses, and horsemen, 
all of them clothed with all sorts of armor, even a great com- 
pany with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords: 
5. Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya with them ; all of them with 
shield and helmet: 6. Gomer, and all his bands; the house 
of Togarmah of the north quarters, and all his bands : and 

* '• Convenit aiiteui haec Ezeciiielis prophetia cuin ilia, quae est 
Apoc. 20. 8, seqq. ceu ex collatione cuivis patebit. JNeque enim 
per nudarn allusioneni ibi allegatur hfEC predictio, sed indicatur a 
Sp. S. eain nunc fine seculi implendam " — But this prophecy of 
Ezckiel coincides with that of Rev. 20: 8, etc as will he apparent to 
any one on inspection. Nor is this prediction there adverted to merely 
by way of allusion, but the desigii of the Holy Spirit is to intimate 
that it now, towards the end of the icorld, receives its accomplishment. 
— Calovius ad Ezech. cap. 38.2. 



152 THE MILLENNIUM. 

many people with thee. 7. Be thou prepared, and prepare 
for thyself, thou, and all thy company that are assembled un- 
to thee, and be thou a i,fuard unto them. 8. After many days 
thou shalt be visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into 
the land that is brought l)ack from the sword, and is gatlier- 
ed out of man}' people, against the mountains of Israel, which 
have been always waste: but it is brought forth out of the 
nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them. 9. Thou 
"shalt ascend and come like a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud 
to cover the land, thou, and all thy bands, and many |)eople 
with thee. 10. Thus saith the Lord God; It shall also come 
to j)ass, that at the same titne shall things come into thy mind, 
and thou shalt think an evil thought: 11. And thou shalt 
say, 1 will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go 
up to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of ihem 
dwelling without walls, and havijig neither bars nor gates ; 

12. To take a spoil, and to take a prey, to turn thine hand 
, upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon 

the peo[)le that are gathered out of the nations, which have 
gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land. 

13. Sheba and Dedan, and the merchants of Tarshish, with 
all the young lions thereof, shall say unto thee. Art thou come 
to take a spoil ? hast thou gathered thy company to take a 
prey ? to carry away silver and gold, to lake away cattle and 
goods, to take a great spoil? 14. Therefore, son of man, 
])roi)hesy, and say unto Gog, Thus saith the Lord God ; In 
that day, when my people of Israel dwelleth safely, shalt thou 
not know it? 15. And thou shalt come from thy place out 
of the north parts, thou, and many peoi)le with thee, all of 
them riding upon horses, a great company and a mighty army : 
16. And thou shalt come up against my people of Israel, as 
a cloud to cover the land ; it shall be in the latter days, and 
I will bring thee against my land, that the heathen may 
know me, when I shall be sanctified in thee, O Gog, before 
their eyes. 17. Thus saith the Lord God ; Art thou he of 
whom I have spoken in old time, by my servants the prophets 
of Israel, which prophesied in those days many years, that I 
would bring thee against them ? 18. And it shall come to 
pass at the same time, when Gog shall come against the land 
of Israel, saith the Lord God, that my fury shall conie up in 
njy face. 19. For in my jealousy, and in the fire of my 
wrath, have I spoken, Surely in that day there shall be a great 
shaking in the land of Israel: 20. So that the fishes of the 



THE MILLENNIUM. 153 

sea, and the fowls of the heaven, and the beasts of the field, 
and all creeping things that creep upon the earth, and all the 
men that are upon the face of the earth, shall shake at rny 
presence, and the mountains shall be thrown down, and the 
steep places shall fall, and every wall shall fill to the ground. 
21. xAnd I will call for a sword against him throughout all 
my mountains, saith the Lord God: every man's sword shall 
be against his brother. 22. And I will plead against him 
with pestilence and with blood ; and I will rain upon him, 
and upon his bands, and upon the many people that are with 
him, an overflowing rain, and great hailstones, fire, and brim- 
stone. 23. Thus will I magnify myself, and sanctify myself; 
and I will be known in the eyes of many nations, and they 
shall know that I am the Lord. 

Ch. XXXIX. 1. Therefore thou son of man, prophesy 
against Gog, and say. Thus saith the Lord God : Behold, I 
am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and 
Tubal ; 2. And I will turn thee back, and leave but the sixth 
part of thee, and will cause thee to come up from the north 
parts, and will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel : 
3. And I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand, and will 
cause thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand. 4. Thou 
shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and all thy bands, 
and the people that is with thee ; I will give thee unto 
the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the 
field to be devoured. 5. Thou shalt fall upon the open field: 
for I have spoken it, saith the Lord God. 6. And I will send 
a fire on Magog, and among them that dwell carelessly in the 
isles : and they shall know that I am the Lord. 7. So will I 
make my holy name known in the midst of my people Is- 
rael ; and I will not let them pollute my holy name any more : 
and the heathen shall know that I am the Lord, the Holy 
One in Israel. 

The remark has been made by former commentators 
that the concluding chapters of the prophecy of Ezekiel 
and the Apocalypse of John bear a striking resemblance 
to each other. A resurrection is mentioned by each — the 
invasion, with its disastrous consequences, of Gog and Ma- 
gog, is predicted by each — and in each we meet with the 
description of a remarkable city, with its various appurte- 



154 THE MILLENNIUM. 

nances. The grand burden of the two oracles in their 
closing parts is obviously the same, so that the citation of 
the one is absolutely indispensable to the correct exposition 
of the other. But although the kindred character of these 
predictions has been long since noted, we are not aware 
that the attempt has ever been made to identify them in the 
manner or to the extent which we now propose to do. 

The scope of the prophecy contained in the chapters 
quoted above has been variously understood by commenta- 
tors. By some it is regarded as the prediction of a for- 
midable invasion against the land of Israel subsequent to 
their return from the Babylonish captivity, and Gog is con- 
sidered but another name for Antiochus Epiphanes, and 
Magog the mystic denomination of the mingled barbarian 
hordes which fought under his banner. But the history of 
the Jewish nation discloses no events in any period of its 
annals which answer to the lofty figurative representations 
here given,* and the mass of commentators at the present 
day seem inclined to rest in the conclusion briefly stated by 
the judicious Editor of the Comprehensive Bible : ** Though 
it is not generally agreed what people or transactions are 
here predicted, yet it seems evident that the prophecy is 
not yet accomplished. Nothing occurred in the wars of 
Cambyses or Antiochus Epiphanes with the Jews that an- 
swers to it ; and the expression here used — * in the latter 
days' — plainly implies that there should be a succession of 
many ages between the publication of the prediction and 
its accomplishment. It is therefore supposed, with much 
probability, that its fulfilment will be posterior to the con- 
version of the Jews and their restoration to their own land, 

* " Interpretes tainen sanioris judicii libentcr concedunt, inte- 
grutn complernentum in hisloria nondum dernonstrari posse, sed in 
futurnm tempus esse conjicii^nduin" — Interpreters of sound judg- 
ment freely admit, that the entire fulfilment cannot as yet he demon- 
strated from history^ hut is to he referred to the future. — Michnelis. 



THE MILLENNIUM. 155 

and that the Turks, Tartars, or Scythians, from the north- 
ern parts of Asia, perhaps uniting with the inhabitants of 
some more southern regions, will make war upon the Jews, 
and be cut off in the manner here predicted."* It will 
doubtless be admitted, then, that this prediction of Ezekiel 
did not receive its fulfilment prior to the Christian era, 
and if we seek for it subsequent to that date, we presume 
it will not be referred to an earlier period than that of the 
Turkish invasion of the eastern provinces of the Roman 
empire between A. D. 1000 and A. D. 1452, when the 
city of Constantinople yielded to the Moslem arms. It is 
to this period, in fact, in our opinion, that the prophecy is 
to be referred. We have no doubt that the hostile power 
adumbrated by Gog and Magog, is identically the same 
with the Euphratean horsemen of the sixth trumpet, uni- 
versally allowed to symbolize the rise and progress of the 
Ottoman empire ; and of this, if we mistake not, the evi- 
dence will accumulate with every step of our ensuing ex- 
position. 

" Son of man, set thy face against Gog, the land of Ma- 
gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy 
against him," etc. The names occurring in the com- 
mencement of this prophecy refer us directly to the tenth 
chapter of Genesis, where Moses has given a detailed ac- 
count of the peopling of the earth by the several sons of 
Noah and their descendants. " Now these are the gene- 
rations of the sons of Noah: Shem, Ham, and Japheth; 
and unto them were sons born after the flood. The sons 
of Japheth, Gomer and Magog, and Madai, and Javan, and 
Tubal, and Mesech, and Teras. And the sons of Gomer, 
Ashkenah, and Riphath, and Togarmahy Now from the 
fact of these names being retained by Ezekiel so long after 
their original possessors had ceased to exist, it is evident 

* Greenfield's Notes in loc. 



156 THE MILLENNIUM. 

that they are to be considered as the names of nations, and 
not ofprrsons. Indeed there are few idioms more frequent 
in the Scriptures than that by which a people, even to the 
latest generation, are called by the name of their primitive 
founder. Thus the nation of the Jews is, in innumerable 
instances, called Israel, from Israel or Jacob, the father of 
their tribes; the Edomites are repeatedly called Edom, af- 
ter the name given to Esau, their founder ; in like manner, 
Moab and Ammon are national denominations flowing from 
the names of their respective founders. So also in the 
passage of the prophet before us, Gog and Magog, as well 
as Meshech and Tubal, are doubtless to be construed as 
distinctive appellations of certain people inhabiting those 
tracts and territories of the globe which originally fell to 
the lot of the individuals whose names they bore. ' Gog,' 
indeed, in strict propriety, appears to be used as a personi- 
fication of the general power which held dominion over 
those regions, just as we say of the Turk,' in modern times, 
that he holds possession of some of the fairest portions of the 
earth, though the Turkish empire includes in reality a great 
number of different nations. The expression, therefore, 
' against Gog, the land of Magog,' is equivalent to, ' against 
Gog, living in, or ruling over, the land of Magog.' In con- 
sistency with this figurative phraseology the same allegori- 
cal personage is called the * /;r///Yr of Meshech and Tubal.' 
Now it is universally conceded that ' Magog ' is but an- 
other name for the populous hordes of the north of Asia 
inhabiting the ancient Scythia. " Nothing," says Vi- 
tringa, " is more certain and indubitable than that by 
* Gog and Magog,' in Ezekiel, are denoted the posterity of 
Japheth, or those northern nations which peopled the 
country lying between the Euxine and Caspian seas, and 
the region still farther north, extending from the Tanais on 
the west to the Mount Imaus on the east."* Rosenmiiller 

* Vitring. in apoc. p. 871. 



THE MILLENNIUM. 157 

also observes, that "after what Bochart and Michaelis 
have written on the subject, it is no longer susceptible of 
doubt, that by ' Magog ' here is intended the Scythia of 
the orientals."* In Gen 10: 2, Magog is placed between 
Gomer and Madai, that is, the Cimmerians and the Medes, 
to the north of each of whom were the Scythians. In fact 
there were no nations known to the Hebrews situated far- 
ther to the north than those which are here associated with 
Gog ; and in answer to the question whether the Magog of 
the Scriptures is to be taken in the same latitude with the 
Scythia of the Greeks and Latins, or whether the title is 
to be restricted to some particular region of Scythia with 
its inhabitants, Michaelis holds decidedly to the former. 
' Neither the geographical allusions,' says he, ' of Moses or 
Ezekiel, or the knowledge of the Hebrew race, extended 
beyond Magog, and the prophet here assigns to the power 
predicted, too immense an army to consist with a territory 
of moderate dimensions.' 

As therefore the remote regions of the north and the 
north-east were so little known to the inhabitants of central 
Asia, there is every probability that those numerous tribes 
of barbarians, comprised by the ancients under the general 
name of Scythians, and by the moderns under that of Tar- 
tars, are here included in the denomination of Magog. 
Jerome expressly affirms, ' that the Jews of his age under- 
stood by Magog the vast and innumerable nations of Scy- 
thia, about Mount Caucasus, and the Palus Maeotis, and 
stretching on from thence along the Caspian towards In- 
dia.' This is confirmed by the language of Josephus, who 
says, ' that INIagog founded those nations which from him 
were named Magogitis, but which by the Greeks are called 
Scythians.'! 

^ Rosenmul. Comment, in Ezek. ch. 38: 2. 

t " Now this Gog, who brings with him the confederacy of all 
the nations, is not by us to be mistaken, who can add to the light 

14 



\^ 



158 THE MILLENNIUM. 

The Syriac and Arabic writers, in like manner, fre- 
quently introduce the names of Gog and Magog as a fa- 
miliar designation of the Tartar nations bordering upon 
India, and the Mohammedan tradition respecting the ap- 
pearance of Gog and Magog among the precursors of the 
resurrection is very remarkable. Among the portentous 
signs of that grand event, Sale enumerates ' the eruption 
of Gog and Magog, or as they are called in the east, Yajuj 
and Majuj ; of whom many things are related in the Koran, 
and the traditions of Mohammed. These barbarians, they 
tell us, having passed the lake of Tiberias, which the van- 
guard of their vast army will drink dry, will come to Jeru- 
salem and greatly distress Jesus and his companions ; till 
at his request God will destroy them, and fill the earth 

of ancient geography which ovir fathers have left us, tlie observa- 
tion of God's providence, which is showing forth Gog's great as- 
cendant power in the sigiit of the whole world. The land of Ma- 
gog is generally, and indeed beyond doubt, fixed to be the land 
beyond Mount Caucasus: all which, without exception, is now 
possessed by the Einpt^ror of the North. And from Gog, it is be- 
heved by the learned, that the very name of Caucasus (Gogasiis), 
as also the name of Georgia, or Gordia, in that district, is derived. 
Also from Magog they reckon that the Moeotic lake, or Sea of 
Asoph, hath its name. Gog is called the prince of Ross, Meshech, 
and Tubal. The Muscovites are beUeved, by common consent, to 
be the people of Meshech, and with them the people of Tubal are 
constantly joined. They are thought to have settled at the heads 
of the Euphrates and Tigris, between the Euxine and the Caspian 
seas ; and from thence to have sent up colonies to people the 
north ; of which it is believed that the Tobolski are one. Now the 
river Araxes, which runs through that region, was anciently, and 
is still by the Arabians, called Ross : so that Ross, Meshech, and 
Tubal, which compose the princedom of Gog, doth take in the re- 
gion from the mouth of the Volga to the mouth of the Don ; from 
which region there can be no doubt that the people called the Rossi 
or Russians, the Mosci or Muscovites, and the Tobolski, have pro- 
ceeded, and all these northern countries have been peopled." — Ir- 
ving' s Discourses on Daniel's Vision of the four Beasts^ p. 47G. 



THE MILLENNIUM. 159 

with their carcasses, which after some time God will send 
birds to carry away, at the prayers of Jesus and his follow- 
ers. Their bows, arrows, and quivers the Moslems will 
burn for seven years together ; and at last God will send a 
rain to cleanse the earth, and make it fertile.'* This tra- 
dition is evidently a distorted reflection of the scriptural 
prophecy, like many other things contained in the Koran, 
which appear, compared with the truth, like an object seen 
at the bottom of a river or lake when the surface is rough- 
ened by the wind.t Again, it is remarked by Bochart 
that the land of Gog and Magog is the region about Mount 
Caucasus, which the neighboring Colchi and Armenians 
in their semi-Chaldaic dialect termed ]0n :^')^ , Gog-hasan, 
i. e. fortress of Gog, which the Greeks softened to Kavy.ot- 
cov, Caucasus, in the same manner as they changed the 
Heb. b^J-^ , gamal, camel, into xd^rilog, camelus. The name 
is also detected in 'Gogarene,' a part of Iberia, mentioned 
by Strabo ; and Wells maintains that the Maeotic Lake 
took its name from the descendants of Magog settled about 
it ; for from Magog is regularly formed Magogitis, or Ma- 
gotis, which last the Greeks might easily mould into Blaio- 
tis, rendered by the Latins 3Ia;ofAs.X 

* Sale's Koran, Prelim, Dls. p. 1 1 1. 

t ^'The legend of the Koran teaches moreover that Gog and 
Magog were to be restrained within the limits of their appropriate 
region, by an immense wall of iron and brass, till the expiration of" 
a certain predicted period, when the wall was to be reduced to 
dust, and they were again to go forth as a desolating scourge upon 
the earth." — Sales Koran, vol. ii. p. 140. Lend. 1825. 

X '■ What particular nations these shall be is not fully agreed by 
learned men, who have turned their attention to this subject. But 
the best founded opinion is,tliat the Scythians are descended from 
Magog. It is also said, that the Mogul Tartars, a people of the 
Scythian race, are still called Magog by the Arabian writers, who, 
beyond the writers of every other country, have preserved ancient 
names and customs. That they shall be a northern nation Ezekiel 



160 THE MILLENNIUM. 

Now it is unquestionable that there is no point in re- 
spect to the origin of nations more certain than that the 
Turks are the descendants of the ancient Scythians. " In 
the midst of these obscure calamities," says Gibbon, ** Eu- 
rope felt the shock of a revolution, which first revealed to 
the world the name and nation of the Turks. Like Rom- 
ulus, the founder of that martial people was suckled by a 
she-wolf, who afterward made him the father of a nume- 
rous progeny ; and the representation of that animal in the 
banners of the Turks preserved the memory, or rather sug- 
gested the idea, of a fable, which was invented, without 
any mutual intercourse, by the shepherds of Latium and 
those of ScT/thia. The sides of the hills were productive 
of minerals, and the iron forges, for the purposes of war, 
were exercised by the Turks, the most despised portion of 
the great Khan of Gcougcn (query — a derivative from 
Gog?y'* 

Their first appearance, however, upon the European 
stage, was at a period too early to answer to the fulfilment 
of this prophecy ; but their incursions were checked, and 
in the language of symbols they were bound in, or rather 
at or about, the river Euphrates, till released by the blast 
of the sixth trumpet, when they were again let loose, and 
poured themselves down upon the Apocalyptic * earth.' It 
was this second irruption of the northern nations (called 
by Dan. 11 : 40, * the king of the north,)' in reference to 
which Gibbon remarks, that " When the black swarm Jirst 
hung over Europe, they were mhtaJcen (rather, rightly ta- 

plainly declares in ch. 28: 15, ' And thou shall come from thy place 
out of the north parts, thou and many people with thee.' This he 
predicts of Gog in the latter days. Hence it is highly probable that 
Gog and Magog signify the Mogul Tartars, and certain that they 
signify these nations, be they who they will, who shall in fact be 
the lineal descendants of Magog, Tubal, Meshech, and Togarmah, 
at the end of the Millennium." — Johnston on Rev. vol. ii. p. 356. 
* Decline and Fall, p. 717. 



THE MILLENNIUM. 



161 



ken) hy fear and superstition for the Gog and Magog of 
the Scriptures, and signs and forerunners of the end of 
the world.^^^ Our main position, therefore, viz. that the 
Turks and Tartars of modern times, inhabiting the very 
countries of Gog and Magog, and genealogically descend- 
ed from them, are prophetically pointed at in the scope of 
this oracle, may be considered as fully established. We 
proceed then in our explication, the progress of which 
will throw still clearer light upon the position above-men- 
tioned. 

'' The chief prince of Meshech and Tubal." The 
original, b^THT "^'^12 •:;i<"i w\"'lp2, Gr. a(^xovT(x''Pojg, Meaox-, 
yal Oo^tl, may be rendered as it is by Bochart and others 
— prince of Ross, Meshech, and Tubal, as the Heb. term 
UJ^*~i, Rosh, for head or chief, is supposed by many to 
to be a proper name, the genuine radix of Russia as Me- 
shech, Gr. Mosoch, betrays its affinity with Muscovy. 
" The learned Bochart," says Wells,t " has observed from 
the Nubian geographer, that the river in Armenia called 
by the Greeks Araxes, is by the Arabians called Rosh ; 
and he not only probably infers, that the people that lived 
in the country about that river, were denominated Rosh ; 
but also proves from Josephus Ben Gorion, that there was 
a people in these parts named Rhossi. Now the Moschi 
and Rhossi being thus neighbors in Asia, their colonies 
kept together in Europe : those of the Moschi in the pro^ 
vince of Muscovy, i. e. about Moscow ; those of the Rhos- 
si in the parts adjoining on the south. On the whole, 
therefore, it may be very properly believed, that the Mus- 
covites and Russians in Europe were colonies of Meshech, 
or of Meshech and Tubal jointly." We are still, there- 
fore, conversant with the northern nations of the eastern 
continent, the very nations whose descendants afterward 

* Decl. and Fall, p. 1021. t Sac. Geog. p. 23, 4to ed. 

14* 



162 THE MILLENNIUM. 

fell under the dominion of the Turks, and have remained 
so to the present day. 

" And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws, 
and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and 
horsemen," etc. The original for ' I will turn thee back' 
is considered by Grotius, following some of the ancient ver- 
sions, as equivalent to the Greek TifgLaTQiipio, and the Latin 
circumagam, I will turn thee hither and thither; implying 
that his movements should be so entirely under providen- 
tial control, that while aiming to accomplish his own in- 
fatuated counsels, he should be led, drawn, or driven, as 
a horse is reined and guided at the will of his rider, or as 
the fish, which has taken the hook into its mouth, is 
drawn in the water one way or the other according to the 
pleasure of the angler.* As it is the prerogative of the 
Most High to make the wrath of man to praise him, while 
the remainder of wrath he restrains, so in the present in- 
stance he announces his intention of so overruling the 
mad and headstrong projects of the invaders, that in their 
wildest career they should still be bringing to pass the se- 
cret purposes of the infinite mind. The present render- 
ing, ' turn thee back,' is evidently incorrect, as it is said 
immediately after, ' I will bring thee forth.' With what 
conceivable propriety could he be said to be ' turned back' 
before he had 'gone forth ?' The true import is doubt- 
less that which we have given above — ' In bringing thee 
forth I will lead and turn thee this way and that, as it 
seemeth good unto me.' 

A striking note of identification is afforded us in the al- 
lusion to the horses and horsemen, which were to consti- 
tute the strength of this tremendous armament. It brings 
the prediction into direct parallelism with that of John in the 

* '' Rather, ' I will mislead thee ;' or, more paraphrastically, ' 1 
will infatuate thy counsels.' " — Horsley. 



THE MILLENNIUM. 163 

Revelation, in announcing under the sixth trumpet the 
fearful expedition of the Euphratean horsemen, or the myr- 
iads of the Turkish cavalry. Rev. 9: 16, ' And the num- 
ber of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thou- 
sand thousand : and I heard the number of them.' The 
historian of the Decline and Fall, who seems, in the con- 
struction of his great work, to have been ' led by the nose ' 
very much in the manner of the people whose annals he 
relates, thus yields his constrained attestation to the truth 
of the inspired word. " As the subject nations marched 
under the standard of the Turks, their cavalry, with men 
and horses, were proudly computed by millions^* " The 
sultan had inquired what supply of men he could furnish 
for military service. 'If you send,' replied Ishmael, 'one 
of these arrows into our camp, fifty thousand of your ser- 
vants will mount on horseback.^ ' And if that number,' 
continued Mehmud, ' should not be sufficient, send this ar- 
row to the horde of Bulik, and you will find fifty thousand 
more.' ' But,' said Gaznevide, dissembling his anxiety, ' if 
I should stand in need of the whole force of your kindred 
tribes?' ' Despatch my bow,' was the last reply of Ish- 
mael, ' and as it is circulated around, the summons will 
be obeyed by two hundred thousand horse.^^f " The Roman 
emperors were suddenly assaulted by an unknown race of 
barbarians, who united the Scythian valor with the fanati- 
cism of new proselytes, and the art and riches of a powerful 
monarchy. The mi/riads of Turkish horse overspread a 
frontier of six hundred miles from Tauris to Arzeroum ; 
and the blood of one hundred and thirty thousand Chris- 
tians was a grateful sacrifice to the Arabian prophet."| 
The prophet Daniel, in a parallel prediction, Dan. 11: 40, 
thus announces the desolating irruption of the Turkish 
power : ' And the king of the north shall come against 

* Decl.andFall,p. 717. t lb. 1055. t lb. 1058. 



164 THE MILLENNIUM. 

him like a whirlwind, icith chariots and icith lior semen, 
and with many ships ; and he shall enter the countries, and 
shall overflow, and shall pass over. He shall enter also 
into the glorious land (the land of Palestine), and many 
countries shall be overthrown." The Turkish forces were 
in fact composed of a vast colluvies of barbarous nations, 
which, disdaining infantry as unsuited to the rapidity of 
their movements, poured themselves down in immense 
bodies of cavalry from the mountains and fastnesses of the 
north, sweeping like a torrent, a tempest, or a whirlwind 
over the Asiatic provinces of Rome. 

'* Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya with them ; all of them 
with shield and helmet : Gomer and all his bands ; the 
house of Togarmah of the north quarter," etc. This is a 
further specification of the various tribes and people who 
were to range themselves under the Turkish banner, form- 
ing a constituent part of the grand confederacy of Gog 
and Magog. We here see them flocking from the north, 
the east, and the south, this fulfilling the terms of the Apoc- 
alyptic prediction, that after the expiration of the thousand 
years, ' the nations which were in the four quarters of the 
earth ' should be gathered together in that fatal enterprise. 

" Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and 
all thy company," etc. We have before remarked that the 
prophecy of Ezekiel now under consideration contemplates 
precisely the same series of events with that of the sixth 
trumpet of the Apocalypse, and that both refer to the period 
and the power of the post-millennial Gog and Magog. We 
have therefore a triple announcement of the same momen- 
tous issue by which a particular period of the world was 
to be distinguished; and if to these we add certain predic- 
tions in Daniel touching upon the same occurrences, it 
may be said that they are set forth in a fourfold diversity 
of representation. 

Now it is worthy of especial note, that in the vision of 



THE MILLENNIUM. 165 

the sixth trumpet, when the four Euphratean angels, that 
is, the four Tu-rkish sultanies, were to be loosed from their 
previous restraint, it is said. Rev. 9: 15, that ' the four an- 
gels were loosed, which were prepared [ol -tjioi^fiaa^ivoi) 
for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year,' by 
which we are inclined to believe is simply intended, that 
they should all of them be ready precisely at one and the 
same time, even on the very same year, month, day, and hour, 
to perform their appointed work. The accumulation of these 
four terms seems designed merely to make the language 
more emphatical, and to represent it as a wonderful occur- 
rence, that these different principalities should he prepared 
in the providence of God, simultaneously to break the 
bonds by which they had hitherto been impeded, and to do 
it also at that precise point of time which had been prede- 
termined in the divine counsels. We conceive, therefore, 
that the expression * prepared ' carries in it a direct allu- 
sion to the same phraseology in the Old Testament prophet : 
' Be thou prepared {Izoi^uad-rixL) ;' i. e. be thou ready at 
the appointed time. It is in this sense of being ready that 
the original term occurs in the following passages : Ex. 19: 
11, 15, 'And be ready {iiol^iol) against the third day.' 
Josh. 8: 4, ' Go not very far from the city, but he ye all 
ready {ecrsa&s ndvTsg I'loi^o^).' And so elsewhere. The 
import, then, of the words may be supposed to be, that 
whatever might be the purposes or attempts of these north- 
ern invaders, their menacing might was to be held in abey- 
ance up to the completion of a certain definite period, when 
the providential restraints which had hitherto curbed their 
operations should be removed, and that then, being fully 
ready, every barrier should be burst, and nothing further 
should oppose them in the accomplishment at once of their 
own designs and those of heaven. Accordingly, as if to 
explain this intimation, it is immediately added : — 

" After many days thou shalt be visited; in the latter 



166 THE MILLENNIUM. 

years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back 
from the sword, etc. Thou shalt ascend and come like a 
storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land," etc. 
This must certainly be considered as throwing forward the 
date of the fulfilment of this prophecy to a period very far 
removed from the age of the prophet by whom the oracle 
was uttered. The phrase — * in the latter years,' literally, 
' in the posteriority of years,' — when occurring in the Old 
Testament, almost invariably refers to the period of the 
Gospel dispensation, and generally to the concluding part 
of that period, so that it is evident we are to look for the 
completion of the prophecy to a date considerably subse- 
quent to the Christian era. The inspired assurance is, 
that after this long tract of time has been passed over, Gog 
and Magog shall in some sense, ' be visited.' The ques- 
tion is, in what sense 1 The term taken by itself is am- 
biguous ; for in the scripture idiom God is said to ' visit ' 
both when he executes his purposes of judgment and of 
mercy. Thus it is said of the fulfilment of the promise 
made to Sarah respecting the birth of a son. Gen. 21: 1, 
that ' the Lord visited Sarah as he had said, and the Lord 
did unto Sarah as he had spoken.' On the other hand, in 
speaking of the punishment of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, 
it is said. Num. 16: 29, * If these men die the common 
death of all men, or if they be insited after the visitation of 
all men, then the Lord hath not sent me.' So also Is. 26: 14, 
' Therefore thou hast visited and destroyed them, and made 
all their memory to perish.' In the present instance, how- 
ever, this latter acceptation of the term seems less perti- 
nent, as the object in these verses is mainly to describe the 
warlike apparatus and the annihilating purpose of Gog, 
while the intimation of his punishment is deferred to the 
18th verse ; ' And it shall come to pass at the same time 
when Gog shall come against the land of Israel, saith the 
Lord God, that my fury shall come up in my face.' A 



THE MILLENNIUM. 167 

more appropriate signification then must be sought for the 
word in this connection. By recurrence to scriptural us- 
age we find a number of instances where the Hebrew ^p_B 
pakad, to visit, is used in the sense of appointing as an 
overseer, giving in charge, entrusing with a commission, 
and in the passive, of being thus appointed, designated, 
or empowered. Thus Gen. 34: 4, ' And he made him 
(Joseph) overseer over his house, and all that he had he put 
into his hand. Here the original is literally ' he made him 
to visit.' So Num. 3: 10, ' And thou sh?i\i appoint Aaron 
and his sons, and they shall wait on their priests' office.' 
2 Chron, 36: 23, ' Thus saith Cyrus, King of Persia, All 
the kingdoms of the earth hath the Lord God of heaven 
given me, and he hath charged me to build him an house 
in Jerusalem.' Job 34: 13, 'Who hath given him a 
charge over the earth V Job 36: 23, ' Who hath enjoin- 
ed him his way V Neh. 7: 1, * And when the porters, and 
the singers, and the Levites were appointed'' (Heb. ' were 
visited'). Neh. 12: 44, ' And at that time w^ere some ap- 
pointed, (Heb. ' visited') over the chambers for the treas- 
ures,' etc. 

Guided by this clew we apprehend the genuine import 
of the term before us to be, that ' after many days,' or 
when the destined era had elapsed, Gog and Magog 
should, in the deep counsels of heaven, be appointed, com- 
missioned, and receive it in charge, to execute, as the or- 
gans of the divine will, a great and momentous work ; and 
this work the prophet immediately goes on to describe. 
The degenerate nations of Christendom had, by their 
sins, rendered themselves obnoxious to the judgments of 
God, and these rude but powerful tribes were to be the 
instruments by which they should be inflicted. They are 
accordingly apostrophized to this effect, as were Nebu- 
chadnezzar and Cyrus when employed for a similar pur- 
pose. " O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff 



168 THE MILLENNIUM. 

in their hand is mine indignation. I will send him against 
an hypocritical nation, and against the people of my wrath 
will I give him a charge, to take the spoil, and to take the 
prey, etc. Howbeit he meaneth not so, neither doth his 
heart think so ; but it is in his heart to destroy and cut 
off nations not a few." In either case the agents employ- 
ed were intent upon the accomplishment of private ends 
of their own, and never dreamt that they were bringing to 
pass the pre-determined and pre-announced counsels of 
Him who sways the hearts of kings and the movements of 
armies at his pleasure. This view of the passage is con- 
firmed by the renderings of some of the ancient versions. 
The Chal. Targum has it ; * After many days thou shalt 
prepare thy forces ;' and the Syriac, ' Thou shalt receive 
charge, or commandment.' The Septuagint, Ez. 38: 8, 
employs ejoi^aa&i\<Juai, ' he shall be in readiness ;' i. e. in 
readiness to act in subserviency to the will of the Most 
High. 

In this connection we cannot but advert to a remarka- 
ble but obscure passage in the prophecy of Isaiah, of 
which we imagine the true key is to be found in the bur- 
den of Ezekiel now under consideration, and in the par- 
allel prediction of the Apocalypse. Is. 24: 21, 22, ' And 
it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall pun- 
ish the host of the high ones that are on high, and the 
kings of the earth upon the earth. And they shall be 
gathered together as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and 
shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days shall 
they be visited.' We regard, these two verses as an epi- 
tome of the twelfth and twentieth chapters of the Revela- 
tion ; the first containing the war in heaven and the over- 
throw of the Dragon and his angels ; and the second, .the 
binding of Satan as a prisoner in the pit of the abyss, and 
his release in the person of Gog and Magog at the close of 
the thousand years. It would subject us to too wide a di- 



THE MILLENNIUM. 169 

gression to enter fully into the consideration of the time, 
occasion, scope, connexion, etc. of the prediction of which 
these verses form a part, but that the language quoted is 
singularly german to that of Ezekiel in the chapter under 
review, is obvious to every eye ; and it has never, moreo- 
ver, been appropriated by commentators in such a way as 
to forbid our present application of it.* In each of the 
prophets the power predicted is represented as held for a 
certain time in some kind of durance or restraint, and 
in each it is said that this power ' after many days shall be 
visited' — visited, that is, in the sense of having obstruc- 
tions removed, and of being designated to the performance 
of certain signal exploits, the pre-ordainment of Heaven. 
Thus we perceive how the rays of scriptural light con- 
verge from every quarter to illustrate the history of the 
symbolical Dragon in his doings and his destiny. Con- 
sidered as the prompting genius of the Pagan dominion, he 
is first struck down from the allegorical heavens (' the Lord 
shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high'), 
and then immured in the prison-house of the mystic abyss 
(' as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up 
in the prison') for the space of a thousand years, when the 
word of prophecy proclaims the opening again of his pris- 
on doors, and the divine ' visitation,' for wise and holy 
ends, sends him once more abroad in pernicious freedom 
to wreak his ire upon the nations. 

* Aben-Ezra upon this passage remarks : — " Omnes interpretes 
consentiunt, ex pericopa hujus capitis id quod in loco hoc (sc. v. 
14 et seqq.) dicitur, intelligendum esse de bello Gogi et Magogi 
tempore futuro." — ML the interpreters agree that that which is said 
from this section of the chapter (v, 14) and onicard, is to be under- 
stood of the tear of Gog and Magog in some future time. 

Vitringa also, in the introduction of his Commentary on the 
24th ch. of Isaiah, thus expresses his conviction of the identity of 
scope between this and the prophecy of Ezekiel : — '■'■ Nee alio ten- 
dit prophetia Ezechielis de Gogo et Magogo, in ipsa terra Canaanse^ 

15 



170 THE MILLENNIUM. 

But who are to be more especially the victims of his 
machinations on this his second sally into the territories of 
which he had been dispossessed ? * Thou shalt come into 
the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gath- 
ered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel 
which have been always (i. e. a long time) waste.' Upon 
these words a commentator remarks, that by 'the moun- 
tains of Israel ' is to be understood the chcclling places of 
the CJuirch, and by the ' Israelites,' Christians* It is un- 
questionable that the subjects of the Gospel dispensation 
are usually spoken of by the Old Testament prophets un- 
der the denomination of ' Israel ;' for as the apostle assures 
us, ' he is not a Jew (Israelite) which is one outwardly ; 
neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh ; 
but he is a Jew which is one inwardly ; and circumcision 
is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter.' 
Christians, therefore, constitute the spiritual Israel,t and a 
predicted hostile aggression against the church, against a 
people professing Christianity, would naturally be couched 
in language like that before us. As we have seen, how- 
ever, that ' mountains,' in the idiom of the prophets, is a 
term denoting governments, kingdoms, or principalhies, the 
phrase * mountains of Israel ' more strictly implies the 

tandem prosternendis ; quae prophetia censeri debet huic nostrae 
esse parallela; unde 'iraqallriUa (fQcloiw?, Is. 24, 22. Post plures 
dies visUahujitur cum Ezech. 38: 8, ubi eadem phrasis." — Kor docs 
the prophecy of Ezekiel, respecting the future destruction of Gog and 
Magog in the land of Cayman look any other iray ; ichich prophecy 
ought to be considered parallel to this of ours ; whence the parallelism 
of phrase m Is. 24: 22, ' Jlfter many days thou shall be visited,' and 
Ezek. 3b: 8, where the same expression occurs. 

* Per mantes Israel hospitia ecclesice: per Israelitas Christian 
inte\hg\inluT.—Michaelis. 

t * And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, 
and mercy, and upon the Israel of God.' Gal. G; IG. 



THE MILLENNIUM. 171 

States, peoples, or bodies politic inhabiting the regions of 
Christendom. These Christian nations, therefore, spread 
over the territories of the church, were to be the objects of 
this formidable northern invasion. But it is said to be a 
land ' brought back from the sword, and gathered out of 
many people ;' that is, rescued, redeemed, delivered from 
actual or threatened subjugation. This we suppose to 
have been effected by the Crusades, by which the first tor- 
rent of this Turkish invasion was checked and turned back. 
" No sooner," says a late writer, " had the Turks entered 
the Holy Land, and taken possession of Jerusalem, than 
Europe was in motion and in arms ; and nations marched 
to the field of the world's debate. Crusade followed after 
crusade. Europeans became the assailants ; and instead 
of extending their territories, the Turks could not retain 
the conquests they had won. On the subdivision of their 
empire into four sultanies, their victorious career was not 
long unchallenged, but speedily retarded and restrained. 
The Lesser Asia and Syria again became fields of battle, 
but with foreign foes. From these countries, formerly over- 
flowed by them, the Turks were repelled. The Crusaders 
from the west and the Fatimites on the south won back the 
countries which the Turks had conquered {a land brought 
hack from the sword), and the original region of their con- 
quest on the banks and borders of the Euphrates became 
the disputed seats of their dominion, aud was partly reft 
from them by the Franks. The Turks for a long period 
were thus restrained and hound. Though they came like a 
whirlwind so soon as their time of preparation began, yet 
their triumph was broken ; the first of their dynasties was 
dissolved — they seemed to be fitted for slaughter, rather 
than prepared to slay. The Crusaders from the farthest 
west, with incredible loss of treasure and of blood, forced 
back the Turks to the regions where their conquests be- 
gan : and the Moguls from the farthest east took up the 



172 THE MILLENNIUM. 

task of repressing them."* The identity of this terrific 
expedition with that of the Gog and Magog of the Apoca- 
lypse is still farther confirmed by the parallel phraseology 
in which both of them are announced. Thus in the one it 
is said, 'Thou shalt ascend (ava^t^atj), and come like a 
storm,' etc. and in the other, ' And they wc72t up (ari^drtaav) 
on the breadth of the earth (land), and compassed the 
camp of the saints about,' etc. The word uvi^r,(Tav, as- 
ccndcd, is peculiar to military expeditions, from the fact 
that as citadels, towns, and fortresses are usually situated 
upon mountains and high places, they could only be at- 
tacked by the besiegers first ascending to or towards them. 
Thus we find the word employed 1 Kings 20: 1, 'And Ben- 
hadad the king of Syria gathered all his host together, and 
he went up (uvs^tj) and besieged Samaria.' Judg. 1: 1, 
* The children of Israel asked the Lord, saying. Who shall 
go up {upaiSriaeTtti) for us against the Canaanites to fight 
against them V 2 Kings 18: 25, * Am I now come up 
{avs§i]y.iv) without the Lord against this place to destroy it ? 
The Lord said to me. Go up (avd^ri&L) against this land 
and destroy it.' So in numerous other instances. In- 
deed, in the most classic authors of Greece, the proper 
rendering of \4vti^aaig is expedition, and no scholar is ig- 
norant of the fact, that this is the very title which Xenophon 
has given to the expedition of the younger Cyrus against 
his brother. The same remark applies to the original 
word ixvxXbjauv, rendered ' compassed about.' This also 
is a military phrase occurring in relation to warlike inva- 
sions, as may be seen in the following passages: Luke 21: 
20, * And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed (xvAov- 
^ivt^v) with armies.' Heb. 11: 30, 'By faith the walls of 
Jericho fell down, after they were compassed about {xv)cX(o- 
■d-ivTa) seven days.' Thus also Eccl. 9: 14, ' And there 



Keith's Signs of the Times, vol. i. p. 307, 309. 



THE MILLENNIUM. 173 

came a great king against it, and besieged it {xvAcaaj] av~ 
rriv).'' Is. 29: 3, ' And I will camp against thee round about 
(yvylbjaoi), and will lay siege against thee.' We are led, 
therefore, to the conclusion, that the predicted assault of 
Gog and Magog, whether by Ezekiel or by John, was to 
be strictly a military invasion, and consequently that the 
power thus denominated was to be a political, and not a 
spiritual power, as some have maintained. Passing over 
several intermediate verses we come to the following : — 

V. 17, '' Thus saith the Lord God : Art thou he of 
whom I have spoken in old time by my servants the pro- 
phets of Israel, which prophesied in those days many years, 
that I would bring thee against them ?" The language 
here is very remarkable. It may be said to afford a strik- 
ing instance of the sovereignty of the spirit of prophecy. 
By a bold and beautiful stroke of the license of inspiration, 
the entire lapse of the intervening centuries between the 
utterance of the prediction and the period of its accom- 
plishment, is represented as having been passed over, and 
the Most High is introduced just at the crisis of the fulfil- 
ment, while the hostile legions are mustering their dread 
array, while the blast of the martial trumpet is congregat- 
ing the countless hosts from the four corners of the earth; 
and is made to apostrophise and interrogate them in the 
manner here described. As though the divine mind itself 
were impressed with a momentary emotion of wonder at 
the perfect accomplishment of its own prediction, Jehovah 
asks, as the darkening cloud of nations moves onward, 
whether indeed he now beheld the very power advancing 
to the very work, which he had ages before, by his pro- 
phets Ezekiel, and Daniel, and others, so clearly and une- 
quivocally foretold ? The highest flight of the genius of 
classic poesy may be challenged to exhibit a strain of gran- 
deur and sublimity like this. But mere rhetorical effect is 
never the ultimate scope of the spirit of inspiration. Its 
15* 



174 



THE MILLENNIUM. 



revelations are made to minister to the understanding 
rather than to the taste, though the word of truth may oc- 
casionally flash forth a demonstration that it is rich even 
where it is confessedly poor. This striking apostrophe to 
Gog and Magog is but as the questioning of the criminal 
before his doom is pronounced. The verses immediately 
ensuing are big with the burden of destiny. "I will call 
for a sword against him throughout all my mountains 
(christian kingdoms), saith the Lord God : every man's 
sword shall be against his brother." But in order to dis- 
play more clearly the remarkable coincidence between the 
main features of the two prophecies, we shall present them, 
side by side, in a tabellated view, to the eye of the reader. 

Rev. ch. xx. Ezek. ch. xxxviii — ix. 

Son of man, set thy face against 
Gog, the land of Magog. 

I will bring thee forth, and all 
thine army, horses and horse- 
men, — even a great company 
with bucklers, all of them hand- 
ling swords : 

Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya, 
with them : — Gomer and all his 
bands ; the house of Togarmah 
of the north quarters, and all his 
bands ; and many people with 
thee. 

After many days thou shalt be 
visited : in the latter years thou 
shalt come into the land. 

Thou shalt ascend and come 
like a storm, thou shalt be like a 
cloud to cover the land, thou, 
and all thy bands, and many peo- 
ple with thee. 

And thou shalt come from thy 

place out of the north parts, 

thou, and many people with thee, 

all of them sitting upon horses, 

a great company, and a mighty 

And they went up on the army : 

breadth of the earth, and com- And thou shalt come up against 

passed the camp of the saints my people of Israel, as a cloud 

about, and the beloved city : to cover the land ; it shall be in 



And when the thousand years 
are expired, Satan shall be loos- 
ed out of his prison. 

And shall go out to deceive 
the nations which are in the four 
quarters of the earth, Gog and 
Magog, to gather them to battle ; 
the number of whom is as the 
sand of the sea. 



THE MILLENNIUM. 175 

the latter days, and I will bring 
thee against my land that the 
people may know me, when I 
shall be sanctified in thee, O 
Gog, before their eyes. 

And I will plead against him 
with pestilence and with blood ; 
and I will rain upon him, and 
upon his bands, and upon the 
many people that are with him, 
an overflowing rain, and great 
hailstones, fire, and brimstone. 
And fire came down from God And I will send a fire on Ma- 
out of heaven and devoured gog, and among them that dwell 
them. carelessly in the isles ; and they 

shall know that 1 am the Lord. 

These shall fall upon the 
mountains of Israel, thou, and 
all thy bands, and the people that 
is with thee : 1 will give thee 
unto the ravenous birds of every 
sort, and to the beasts of the field 
to be devoured. 

The doom of the invading power is expressed in strong 
and highly wrought, but figurative language, implying that 
divine judgments should be superadded to human reverses 
in effecting its utter overthrow. The devouring ' fire/ 
mentioned by the latter prophet, which was to ' come down 
from God out of heaven,' and do the work of his wrath, 
is but another name for the diversified judgments of blood, 
pestilence, hail, fire, and brimstone, described by Ezekiel. 
Where the one writer is full, the other is brief; according 
to the uniform analogy of the scriptures. That the pre- 
diction should be in a great measure literally fulfilled, we 
have no hesitation in admitting ; but that ' fire' is the sym- 
bolic term for divine inflictions in general is clear from the 
usage of the prophets and psalmists in instances innumera- 
ble : thus, Ps. 50: 3, ' Oar God shall come, and shall not 
keep silence : a^re shall devour before him, and it shall 
be very tempestuous round about him,' i. e. he shall mani- 
fest his presence by tremendous judgments. To the same 
effect, Ps. 97: 3, ' AJire goeth before him and burneth up 



176 THE MILLENNIUM. 

his enemies round about.' Ps. 78: 21, 'Therefore the 
Lord heard this and was wroth : so a Jire was kindled 
against Jacob, and anger also came up against Israel.' Is. 
9: 19, ' Through the wrath of the Lord of hosts the land is 
darkened, and the people shall be as the fuel o^ the Jire; 
no man shall spare his brother.' Here the ' fire' was the 
destruction of every one by the hand of his brother. Is. 
66: 15, 'For behold, the Lord will come with ^re, and 
with his chariots like a whirlwind, to render his anger with 
fury, and his rebukes with flames o^ fire.'' Ezek. 21: 31, 
32, ' And I will pour out mine indignation upon thee, I 
will blow against thee in the^re of my wrath, and deliver 
thee into the hand of brutish men, and skilful to destroy. 
Thou shalt be fuel for the fire.' Lam. 4: 11, ' The Lord 
hath kindled difire in Zion, and it hath devoured the foun- 
dations thereof.' Hos. 8: 14, ' For Israel hath forgotten 
his Maker and buildeth temples ; but I will send a fire 
upon his cities, and it shall devour the palaces thereof.' 
The prevailing import of the term ' fire' in all these in- 
stances is that of calamities and judgments inflicted provi- 
dentially by the avenging hand of God. And such we 
doubt not is its genuine sense in the passage before us. 
The burden of the oracle is, that Gog and Magog, not- 
withstanding the strength and terror of their forces, their 
high purpose of conquest and spoil, and their unwavering 
confidence of success, should be confronted, discomfited, 
and destroyed by the direct visitation of the Almighty arm. 
But here it is to be remarked, that there is no necessity 
of understanding the language as implying a sudden de- 
struction. " They compassed the camp of the saints about 
and the beloved city : and fire came down from God out 
of heaven, and devoured them." The import of this dec- 
laration is, that the besieging power should be gradually 
loastcd away in the progress of time by a succession of ca- 
lamitous events, so marked in their character, and so deso- 



THE MILLENNIUM. 177 

lating in their effects, as to refer themselves unequivocally 
to their true source in the judicial counsels of Heaven. 
" The stars in their courses fought against Sisera." The 
elements were to be commissioned as the ministers of wrath 
to execute the penal will of Jehovah. Plagues and pesti- 
lences were to poison the atmosphere, ponderous hailstones 
were to be eno-endered in the regions of the clouds, ruin- 
ous conflagrations were to turn villages and cities to ashes, 
and scenes of civil discord and blood were to complete the 
work of extirpation. 

But in the nature of things, without the intervention of 
a continuous series of miracles, such a result could not be 
brought about in a day or a year. Sufficient time must be 
allowed for the operation of those second causes which 
were to be enlisted in its production. By the very struc- 
ture of the prophetic style, future events, which are gradual 
and successive in their occurrence, must be represented 
by symbols derived from objects that are visible at one 
view, or embraced in a single glance of the eye, so that 
the accident of time is always to be a matter of mental al- 
lowance on the part of the reader. What particular pe- 
riod of time, or whether any definite portion at all, is to 
enter into the account, is to be determined by other circum- 
stances. But nothing is more certain than that a train of 
events covering an extended tract of ages is often repre- 
sented by a set of symbolical actions which may occupy in 
visionary display but the space of an instant. As in an 
historical painting, though a scene may be portrayed, the 
incidents of which, in actual occurrence, were separated 
by some little intervals of time, yet from the nature of pic- 
torial representation, they are exhibited simultaneously, 
being all concentrated into one single moment of time, or 
a crisis which has no respect to duration. The necessary 
attribute of time has to be supplied by the mind of the 
spectator. So in a prophetical vision. Pharaoh, for in- 



178 THE MILLENNIUM. 

Stance, beheld in his dream the seven fat kine emerging 
from the river, and then the seven lean kine by whom the 
former were devoured, and all this within the brief space 
of time in which the literal action might be supposed to 
have been accomplished, and yet we learn from Joseph's 
interpretation that the period actually denoted by the im- 
agery was a period of no less than fourteen years. In like 
manner, when it is said in a former vision of the Apoca- 
lypse, that * to the woman were given two wings of a great 
eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness,' an event is 
denoted which occupied a great many years in the accom- 
plishment. So again. Rev. 17: 16, ' And the ten horns 
which thou savvest upon the beast, these shall hate the 
whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall 
eat her flesh, and burn her with fire.' By this is implied 
a gradual impoverishment, wasting, and destruction. The 
power symbolized by the profligate woman was in process 
of time to become an object of detestation to its former ad- 
herents and auxiliaries, its treasures and resources despoil- 
ed, and every species of indignity and contempt, violence 
and aggression, to be exercised towards it. But the lapse 
of several centuries might scarcely suffice for the complete 
fulfilment of the prediction. It is in fact the announce- 
ment of a mighty moral revolution, involving an entire 
change of public opinion, and a consequent reverse of con- 
duct, in reference to a certain system of ecclesiastical des- 
potism which had maintained a pernicious ascendancy over 
the minds of men for a long course of ages. Like all other 
revolutions, therefore, originating in principle, it would re- 
quire time, and a long time, to bring it about. 

But to return to the vision of John. We have stated 
that the Old and New Testament prophecies under con- 
sideration are not only similar, but identical, in their 
scope ; that the Gog and Magog of Ezekiel is the Gog 
and Magog of the Apocalypse; that the denomination, 



TH£ MILLENNIUM. 179 

whether occurring in the one or the other, points to no 
other than the Turkish power, that colossal scourge of 
Christendom, which, though fast waning to its close, is not 
yet destroyed ; from which it follows, by necessary conse- 
quence, that the threatened destruction of this formidable 
host by fire from heaven is but the intimation of the doom 
of the Moslem dominion ; a doom to be executed not by a 
sudden blow, but by a gradual process, like the drying up 
of the mystical Euphrates, a symbol denoting in less forci- 
ble terms precisely the same result with that shadowed 
forth by the fiery destruction of Gog and Magog. As the 
Turkish invasion is denoted by the loosing of the four an- 
gels that were bound in the river Euphrates, so the gradual 
weakening, wasting, and final extinction of that despotism 
is represented by the drying up of the same river. 

To what an extent this prediction respecting the gradual 
demolition of the Turkish power has. hitherto received an 
accomplishment accordant with the explanation now given 
of its terms, will appear from the following remarks of an 
enlightened traveller, made in 1821. " The circumstance," 
says the Rev. Mr. Walsh, chaplain to the British am- 
bassador at Constantinople, '^ most striking to a trav- 
eller passing through Turkey, is its depopulation. Ru- 
ins where villages had been built, and fallows where land 
had been cultivated, are frequently seen with no living thing 
near them. This effect is not so visible in larger towns, 
though the cause is known to operate there in a still greater 
degree. Within the last twenty years, Constantinople has 
lost more than half its population. Two conflagrations 
happened while I was in Constantinople, and destroyed 
fifteen thousand houses. The Russian and Greek wars 
were a constant drain on the janisaries of the capital ; the 
silent operation of the plague is continually active, though 
not always alarming ; — it will be no exaggeration to say, 
that within the period mentioned, from three to four hun- 



180 THE MILLENNIUM. 

dred thousand persons have been prematurely swept away 
in one city in Europe by causes which were not operating 
in any other — conjiagration, pestilence, and civil commotion. 
The Turks, though naturally of a robust and vigorous con- 
stitution, addict themselves to such habits as are very un- 
favorable to population — the births do little more than ex- 
ceed the ordinary deaths, and cannot supply the waste of 
casualties. The surrounding country is therefore constant- 
ly drained to supply this waste in the capital, which never- 
theless exhibits districts nearly depopulated. If we sup- 
pose these causes operate more or less in every part of the 
Turkish empire, it will not be too much to say, that there 
is more of human life icasted, and less supplied, than in 
any other country. We see every day life going out in the 
fairest portion of Europe ; and the human race threatened 
with extinction in a soil and climate capable of supporting 
the most abundant population."* 

* Walsh's Narrative, pp. 22— 24. 



The following is extracted from the London Record newspaper 
of Nov. 14,1831 : — 

" Constantinoj)le,Oct.lO. — On the 5th inst. a natural phenomenon, 
such as few persons remember, and the effects of which have been 
most destructive, filled with terror the inliabitants of this country ; 
who are at the same time suffering under all kinds of evils. After 
an uncommonly sultry night, threatening clouds arose, about six 
in the morning, in the horizon to the south-west, and a noise be- 
tween thunder^nd tempest, and yet not to be compared with ei- 
ther, increased every moment; and the inhabitants of the capital, 
roused from their sleep, awaited with anxious expectation the issue 
of this threatening phenomenon. Their uncertainty was not of 
long duration : lumps of ice, as large as a man's foot, falling, first 
singly and then like a thick shower of stones, which destroyed ev- 
erything that they came in contact with. The oldest persons do 
not remember ever to hare seen such hailstones. Some were picked 
up, half an hour afterwards, which weighed above a pound. This 
dreadful storm passed over Constantinople, and along the Bospho- 



THE MILLENNIUM. 181 

This general explanation will afford an adequate key to 
all the minor particulars of the emblematic scenery. They 
are said to have ' compassed the camp of the saints about 
and the beloved city.' The parallel expression in Ezek- 
iel is, ' And thou shalt come up against my people of Is- 
rael, as a cloud to cover the land.' The phraseology of 
the one prophet is a clew to that of the other. The ' camp 
of the saints' beleaguered by the multitudinous armies of 
Gog and Magog is equivalent to the 'people of Israel' sur- 
rounded by the myriads of horsemen in the former pro- 
phet. Bat we have already seen that ' Israel' is the prophe- 
tic designation of Christians. The land of Israel is the 
territories of Christendom. And the body of Christian 
nations against whom the Turkish tribes were to array 
themselves are probably described as an ' encampment' in 
reference to the military attitude which in self-defence 
they have been for ages compelled to assume and main- 
tain. The appellation ' saints,' a/toi, is bestowed on the 
ground not so much of personal as of relative character, 

rus, over Therapis, Bujukden, and Belgrade : and the fairest, nay, 
the only hope of this beautiful and fertile tract, the vintage, just 
commenced, was destroyed in a day. Animals of all kinds, and 
even some persons, are said to have been killed ; an incalculable 
number are wounded ; and the damage done to the houses is in- 
calculable. Besides that, scarcely a window has escaped in all the 
country. The force of the fallen masses of ice was so great, that 
they broke to atoms all the tiles on the roofs, and scattered, like 
musket balls, planks half an inch thick. Since that day, the rain 
has not ceased to pour down in torrents ; and, from the slight way 
in which the houses are built, almost wholly consisting of windows, 
and with very flat roofs, that have nothing to keep off wet besides 
tiles, innumerable families are not much more comfortable than a 
bivouac. If, in addition to this, we consider that, in consequence 
of Pera, and the great fires of Constantinople itself, many have no 
shelter whatever ; and recollect, besides, the plague which con- 
tinues to spread, and the cases of cholera, which still occur; the 
whole tof^ether makes a most gloomy picture." 

16 



18*2 THE MILLENNIUM. 

pointing to a body of men professing the true religion, and 
thus contradistinguished from the mass of the infidel fol- 
lowers of the False Prophet. The ' beloved city,' if not 
equivalent to, and exegetical of the foregoing phrase, 
* camp of the saints,' may be supposed to refer to some 
preeminently favored, chosen, and precious region com- 
prised within those limits which were environed or over- 
run by the desolating squadrons of the northern Gog. If 
so, to what memorable spot does the finger of inspiration 
more probably point than to the land of Palestine, and the 
city of Jerusalem, of which the Psalmist says, Ps. 87: 2, 
' TJie Lord loneth the gates of Zion more than all the dwel- 
lings of Jacob.' '* But the most interesting conquest," 
says the historian, " of the Seljukian Turks, was that of 
Jerusalem, which soon became the theatre of nations."* 
In the parallel prophecy of Daniel, ch. 11: 41, it is said, 
' He shall enter also into the glorious land, and many 
countries shall be overthrown.' Again, v. 45, * And he 
shall plant the tabernacles of his palaces between the seas 
in the glorious holy inountain ;"* unequivocal allusions to 
the land of Palestine. To say, therefore, that the * belov- 
ed city,' the ' beauty of all lands,' * the joy of the whole 
earth,' has been for ages in the condition here described, 
in a state of perpetual siege, hemmed in and ruled over 
by the ruthless Turk, is but affirming the most obvious 
fact of history, and reciting the accomplishment of the Sa- 
viour's own words, Luke 21: 24, that ' Jerusalem should be 
trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gen- 
tiles be fulfilled.' 

Such then is the substance of our exposition of the Gog 
and Magog of the Apocalypse. We regard the terms as 
simply the prophetical designation of the Turkish power, 
constituting the woe of the sixth trumpet, the period of 

* Dec), and Fall, p. 1064. 



THE MILLENNIUM. 183 

which coincides with the closing epoch of the Millennium. 
And we have endeavoured to show that the unquestiona- 
ble facts of history go to confirm, in a striking manner, the 
truth of this position. We have also adduced evidence to 
prove that the Spirit of inspiration, speaking through Eze- 
kiel, predicted more than a thousand years before, the 
rise, irruption, and overthrow of the same invading pow- 
er. And we now observe that it is in this latter fact that 
we find a clew to the phraseology of John, Rev. 20 : 3, 
' And after that he must (5h) be loosed a little season.' 
The necessity here predicted of the temporary enlargement 
of Satan is founded upon the circumstance that such an 
event is plainly foretold in the Old Testament oracles. 
The punctual fulfilment of these ancient predictions re- 
quired that precisely such an event should take place. 
This interpretation is supported by the following instances 
of a parallel diction in the Evangelists and Apostles. Matt. 
24: 6, ' And when ye shall hear of wars and rumors of 
wars, see that ye be not troubled : for all these things vmst 
(dn) come to pass, but the end is not yet.' They must 
come to pass because they were predicted. Matt. 26: 54, 
* But how then shall the Scriptures be fulfilled, that thus 
it must (del) be.' Mark 8: 31, ' And he began to teach 
them, that the Son of man 7nust (dsi) suffer many things, 
and be rejected of the elders,' etc. i. e. in order to the 
verifying of the predictions of Moses and the prophets. 
Luke 22: 37, ' For I say unto you that this that is written 
must {Sst) yet be accomplished in me. And he was reckon- 
ed among the transgressors ;' i. e. it must be accomplish- 
ed because it was written. John 20: 9, ' For as yet they 
know not the Scriptures, that he must (8fl) rise again from 
the dead.' Acts 17: 2, 3, ' And reasoned with them out 
of the Scriptures, opening and alleging thut Christ must 
needs (sdu) have suffered, and risen again from the dead.' 
Luke 24 : 46, ' And said unto them. Thus it is written, 



184 THE MILLENNIUM. 

and thus it helioved (t(5a) Christ to suifer, and to rise from 
the dead the third day.' Accordingly it will be found to 
hold good as a general remark,' that wherever the New 
Testament writers speak of any event as necessary to be 
accomplished, this necessity is bassed not upon the secret, 
but upon the revealed will of the Most High, as disclosed 
by his ancient servants the prophets. On the ground, 
therefore, of long previous annunciation, it was necessary 
that Satan should be * loosed out of his prison, and should 
go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quar- 
ters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together 
to battle.' 

But here it may be asked, how the expression ' deceive ' 
{nlMiiaui) if it bear the sense already ascribed to it of se- 
ducing hy means of religions imposture, can properly be 
applied to these heathen nations, seeing that they were al- 
ready deceived from the very fact of their being under the 
jurisdiction of the Dragon prior to their issuing forth upon 
this fatal expedition ? We answer, that the specijic end 
of his ' deception ' on this occasion is expressly defined by 
the words of the prophet. "E^tkiianai nlavr^vaL—avvaya- 
yuv nvioig tig noh^ov — He shcdl go forth to deceive them — 
to gather them together to battle. This was then the drift 
of his deluding subtleties, to infatuate their minds with the 
project of a grand and glorious conquest to be achieved 
over Christendom, in consequence of which they should 
muster an immense armament, and go forth buoyant with 
hope, and blustering with bravado, to the momentous con- 
flict. " The enemy said, I will pursue, I will overtake, I 
will divide the spoil ; my lust shall be satisfied upon them ; 
I will draw the sword, my hand shall destroy them." This 
was the precise nature of the * deception ' to be practised 
upon the belligerent legions of Gog and Magog. They 
were to be urged on by the delusive prospect of success in 
their undertaking, while ultimate, remediless ruin awaited 



THE MILLENNIUM. 185 

them. The term ' deceive,' therefore, in this connection 
must, by the exigentia loci, be interpreted in a sense some- 
what different from that assigned to it above. 

The only point which now remains to be considered is 
that of dates ; and this is a point requiring a very close 
examination. If the Dragon were not to be released from 
his confinement in the mystic abyss till the full expiration of 
the thousand years, and if this thousand years be dated 
from the reign of Theodosius or shortly after, that is, from 
some point between A. D. 395 and A. D. 450, it may be 
objected, that this determination of periods will by no 
means tally with the grand epochs of the Turkish history. 
For nothing is more certain than that their first inroads 
upon the territories of Christendom were at least two or 
three centuries prior to the date to which this calculation 
would assign them. " The lords of a great part of Asia, 
which lies between the Indus and the Bosphorus, proceeded 
originally from the nation which dwells in the Khozzer or 
Khozzez plains, at the north-east of the Caspian sea. They 
were called Turh^ or Turhmans : and their first important 
imigration took place in the tenth century. These Tar- 
tars, like most others of their nation in their imigrations to 
the south, embraced the Mohammedan religion."* This 
expedition was headed by Seljuk, grandfather of Togrol- 
Bec, who between the years 1038 and 1063 defeated the 
Gaznevides, subjugated Persia, and was solemnly recog- 
nized by the CiUiph of Bagdad as the master of all the Mo- 
hammedan states, and as the vicegerent of the Moslem 
world. His nephew Alp Arslan succeeded him in the year 
1063 : and at the close of a prosperous reign, " the fairest 
parts of Asia were subject to his laws, twelve hundred kings 
or chiefs stood before his throne, and two hundred thou- 
sand soldiers marched under his banners." He was suc- 

* Mills' Hist, of Mohamm. p. 233. 
16* 



186 THE MILLENNIUM. 

ceeded by his son Malek-Shah, who reigned from 1072 to 
the year 1092, and who was the greatest prince of his age. 
" Persia was his ; the emirs of Syria paid their submission 
of tribute and respect; and daily prayers were offered for 
his health in Mecca, Medina, Jerusalem, Bagdad, Rhei, 
Ispahan, Samarcand, Bokhara, and Kashgar. But the 
greatness and unity of the Turkish empire expired in the 
person of Malek-Shah. On his death in the year 1092, 
the vast fabric fell to the ground ; and after a series of 
civil wars, four dynasties, contemporary and not succes- 
sive, were formed : namely, that of Persia at large; that 
of Kerman, a province of Persia ; that of a large portion of 
Syria, including Aleppo and Damascus ; and that of 
Rhoum, or Asia Minor." 

In the year 1240, the Ottoman Turks, who dwelt origi- 
nally at the north of the Caspian sea, on the plains of Kip- 
jack or Cumania, made their appearance in Armenia, Sy- 
ria, and Asia Minor. " Some of them engaged in the ser- 
vice of Aladdin, the Seljuk sultan of Iconium or Rhoum : 
and it was not beneath the dignity of their leader Ortugrul 
to become the subject and soldier of that prince. The 
Seljuks of Iconium and the Korasmian Tartars became one 
people : in history they were known by the common name 
of Ottoman Turks : and the sword and sceptre of power 
were transferred from the sluggard Seljukian princes to 
their ambitious and enterprising generals."* 

The narrative thus briefly recited stands almost self-ap- 
plied to the events announced under the sixth trumpet, 
which, according to our interpretation, brings the Gog and 
Magog power upon the projihetic platform. The four an- 
gels described as bound in the regions bordering on the 
river Euphrates, are the four contemporary sultanies, or 
dynasties, into which the empire of the Seljukian Turks 
was divided towards the close of the eleventh century : 

* Mills' Hist, of Mohamm. p. 133—261. 



THE MILLENNIUM. 187 

Persia, Kerman, Syria, and Rlioum. " These were long- 
restrained from extending their conquests beyond what 
may be geographically termed the Euphrathan regions, 
partly by the quadruple division of their once united em- 
pire, partly by the revolutions of Asia, and partly by the 
instrumentality of the crusades. But towards the close of 
the thirteenth century, the four angels on the river Eu- 
phrates were forthwith loosed in the persons of their ex- 
isting representatives, the united Ottoman and Seljukian 
Turks."* 

Now as the thousand years of the Apocalypse were not 
completed at the close of the thirteenth century, the ques- 
tion arises, With what propriety, consistently with the sa- 
cred text, can Satan, in the person of the Ottoman or Sel- 
jukian Turks, be said to have been loosed at that time 1 
This question deserves a well-considered reply. In offer- 
ing a solution of the problem, let us weigh the genuine im- 
port of the original : — Kal oiav Tslm&ii] tw ;^/Am ut]. Of 
these words the common translation is, ' And when the thou- 
sand years are expired;'' understanding the term of years 
to be fully completed. But a more correct rendering we 
apprehend to be, ' And when the thousand years are expir- 
ing, or drawing towards a close.'' The grammatical struc- 
ture of the passage does not, as we conceive, imperiously 
require us to understand the period as having fully elapsed. 
The subjunctive mode in Greek having no future tense, 
but being obliged for that purpose to employ the aorists, 
or indefinite tenses, is often used in connection with the 
adverb otav, to denote time current instead of time complete. 
The following cases of a strictly parallel phraseology will 
redeem our proposed version from the charge of being 
arbitrarily adopted, merely to serve a turn. A remark- 
ably apposite instance is afforded in a former part of 

* Fabers' Sac. Calend. of Proph. vol. ii, p. 415. 



188 THE MILLENNIUM. 

the Revelation, ch. 11: 7, where the war or prolonged hos- 
tility of the Beast against the Witnesses is mentioned. 
' And when they shall have finished their testimony (Gr. 
orav xslidbidi xi]v fiaQxvQiav avtcov), the Beast, that ascend- 
eth out of the bottomless pit, shall make war against them, 
and overcome them.' Grotius, Mede, Whiston, More, 
Daubuz, Lowman, and Newton unanimously agree that 
the true rendering in this place is. When they shall he fin- 
ishing, or about to finish, their testimony. The reason of 
it is plain ; for the Beast was not to defer his persecution 
till after they had completed their testimony, but was to 
make war against them during the time that they were ac- 
tually engaged in it. The sense therefore is plainly, 
While they shall he finishing, or executing their testimo- 
ny.* Again, Matt. 5: 11, 'Blessed are ye when men shall 
revile you and persecute you,' etc. (Gr. orav ovfidiaaaiv 
v^ag xal dicj^ojai) ; i. e. not when men shall have reviled 
and persecuted you, but even while they are doing it. 
Matt. 10: 19, * But when they deliver you up (Gr. orav na- 
Qcxdiduiaiv vfiixg) take no thought,' etc. ; i. e. when they are 
delivering you up. So also 1 Thess. 5: 3, ' For when they 
shall say {hav yaq Xsyaaiv), peace and safety ; then sud- 

" Daubuz, after rendering the original: — ' .^nd whilst they shall 
perform their tcstimoiiij,' — remarks : "This is the right meaning of 
these words, as Grotius, More, and others, even Mede himself, 
own. For the word r^Afw may signify tlie doing any thing in order 
to its perfection, as well as the actual finishing of it. So iTTirsUoj, 
in Heb. 1): G, signifies simply to accomplish, without any respect to 
the end, any more than to the wliole service ; and the particle orav, 
whilst, suits exactly with tliis sense, Matt. 5: 1 1 . 10: 19. Now the 
sense of the whole requires it absolutely ; for the power of the 
Beast is to make war against them during all the time of their tes- 
timony, and that power in ch. 13: 5, is said to be forty-two months, 
which are equal to the 12G0 days of these witnesses' prophesying. 
Therefore the Beast makes war upon them all the time ivhilst theij 
perform their testimony.'' — Daubuz Perpet. Comment, p. 514. 



THE MILLENNIUM. ib\f 

den destruction cometh upon them ;' i. e. while they shall 
be saying. Instances of the same usage might be accumu- 
lated in great abundance, from profane as well as sacred 
writers, but the cases adduced will be sufficient, if we mis- 
take not, to sustain our construction of the passage. 

We rest therefore in the conclusion that the Holy Spirit 
intended by the phraseology of the text to signify no more 
than that while the thousand years 'were finishing,' or 
verging to their termination, Satan, in the person of the 
pagan hordes of the north, should be released from that 
providential restraint to which he had been so long sub- 
jected, and should renew his machinations and cruelties 
against the christianized portions of the globe. It might, 
perhaps, be one, two, or three centuries before the com- 
plete consummation of the Millennial period that he began 
to set his projects on foot. But in so large and far-reach- 
ing a prophecy as that before us, these minor fractions of 
time are not regarded by the spirit of inspiration. The 
predominant scope of the oracle is merely to announce in 
general terms the future irruption and hostile assault of 
the Turkish power, followed by its final discomfiture and 
destruction. The minute specification of dates, therefore, 
is not a matter of prime importance in the unravelling of 
the mysteries of the vision. It may be supposed that the 
Turkish power, although it commenced its career, and 
made its incipient conquests one or two centuries prior to 
the fall expiration of the Millennium, yet it attained its 
acme about the time of its close, and this construction will 
perhaps answer all the demands of the text. The capture 
of Constantinople, A. D. 1453, levelled the last bulwark 
that protected the Greek empire from the arms of the Otto- 
mans, and the probable epoch of the expiration of the thou- 
sand years of the Apocalypse, was signalized by the effec- 
tual establishment of these descendants of the ancient Gog 



190 THE MILLENNIUM. 

and Magog, in the once flourishing provinces of Europe 
and the church.* 

From that time forward the spirit of prophecy has seen 
fit to give no other particular intimations of the fate and 
fortunes of the Turkish power than what is contained in 
the brief but pregnant declaration, that "fire came down 
from God out of heaven, and devoured them," denoting, as 
we have already hinted, the gradual wasting away, in con- 
sequence of a series of judicial visitations of heaven, of that 
once formidable dominion, reared by the prowess of the 
scimitar, and cemented and upheld by the delusions of the 
Koran. The same result is shadowed out with equal sig- 
nificancy by the symbol of the drying up of the waters of 
the Euphrates under the effusion of the sixth vial, indicat- 
ing the decay and exhausture of the resources, strength, 
population, and territory of the empire of the Moslems. 
The process in our own day is still going on with signal 
and uninterrupted rapidity. Scarcely an arrival from an 
European port but brings the intelligence of another and 
a farther stage in her irretrievably downward career. 
Whether it be by the ravages of the cholera or the plague, 
of fire or tornadoes, of foreign invasion or internal revolt, 
the work of ruin is still advancing. Hosts of evil angels 
seem leagued together for its overthrow. Every succeed- 
ing report is a report of disasters, proclaiming the waning 
glories of the Crescent, and tolling afresh the knell of the 
dynasty of the Ottomans. "The spider has wove his web 
in the imperial palace, and the owl hath sung her watch- 
song in the towers of Afrasiab." 

* While Constantinople was besieged by the Turks, some of the 
priests, on being reproached for their compliances with some of the 
superstitions of the Latin church, replied: "Have patience, till 
God shall have delivered the c\iy from the great dragon who seeks 
to devour us. You shall then perceive whether we are truly re- 
conciled with the Azymhes.''— Gibbon's Dccl. and Fall, p. 1229. 



THE MILLENNIUM. 191 

CHAPTER VI. 

CONCLUSION. 

The foregoing pages have been devoted to the state- 
ment and confirmation of that view of the Apocalyptic 
Millennium which, and which only, we deem to be sup- 
ported by a fair and unforced exegesis of the sacred text. 
This view, we are well aware, is widely at variance with 
the prevailing sentiments of the Christian world in relation 
to the grand period thus denominated. We have arrayed 
ourselves in opposition to the popular theory, which regards 
the Millennium as yet future, and in so doing are con- 
scious of having incurred all that responsibility, which at- 
taches to the attempt to assail and undermine a long-estab- 
lished -and seldom-questioned opinion. But that we have 
not enlisted unadvisedly in the defence of the position 
which the reader will find advocated, however feebly, in 
the preceding chapters, we trust will be evident from the 
careful, candid, and plausible, if not conclusive, train of 
investigation into which we have entered. It is hoped that 
the show of sound reasoning, sustained by philological and 
historical induction, will redeem the theory from the 
charge of wild extravagance, though it should fail to win 
an unwavering assent. 

Of one thing, at least, we may venture to assure our- 
selves without hesitation ; that is, that the genuine doc- 
trine of the Millennium, if we have not succeeded in es- 
tablishing it, must be determined, whenever it shall be 
done, by a method similar to that adopted in the present 
work. The import of the prophetic symbols must be defi- 
nitively settled before a single step can be taken towards 
a satisfactory solution of the great problem. The notion 
of a future era of blessedness appointed in the benignity of 



19:2 THE MILLENNIUM. 

the Divine counsels to dawn upon our world in the latter 
ages of its duration, is indeed one peculiarly congenial to 
the human mind, and in support of which many plausible 
reasons may be adduced from the general hints and inti- 
mations dispersed through the oracles of the prophets. 
And we doubt not that such an expectation receives the 
decided countenance of an enlightened reason, apart from 
the express assurances of Scripture. But as to the antici- 
pation of a period so strictly defined and so characteristi- 
cally marked as the Millennium of the Apocalypse, an in- 
telligent anticipation needs to be based upon grounds less 
vague and equivocal. The precise meaning of the in- 
spired annunciations must be understood. Faith, hope, 
and charity may combine to excite the sanguine expecta- 
tion of a blissful state of the world, and. an ardent fancy 
may be invoked to throw the hues of the primitive paradise 
over the scene ; when at the same time, if brought to the 
test of rigid exegesis, it may be nothing more than a bril- 
liant illusion, destined to be ruthlessly dispelled by the on- 
ward course of time and Providence. 

The present belongs to man, the future to God. As 
coming events are in themselves utterly veiled from human 
foresight, the prospects of the church and the world are 
matters of pure revelation. They can enter no farther in- 
to the scope of our limited vision than as the curtain of con- 
cealment is lifted from before them by the hand of inspira- 
tion. Now, although the predictions of holy writ are de- 
signed to acquaint us in great measure with the arcana of 
futurity, yet these predictions are delivered in a style dark 
and enigmatical, without the proper key to which they still 
remain enveloped in impenetrable obscurity. The lan- 
guage of symbols is the vehicle of prophecy. If we would 
explore the labyrinth, ^ve must guide our footsteps by the 
only clew which will conduct us through its recesses. As 
it respects, then, the popular doctrine of a future Millen- 



THE MILLENNIUM. 193 

nium, if we would not embrace a shadow for a substance. 



the very first question to be resolved is, What is the genu- 
ine import of the figurative and symbolical terms in which 
this period is announced, and by which it is described ? 
Nothing that can properly be called knowledge is attainable 
on the subject without settling this matter in the outset. 
It is accordingly in this department of our inquiry that we 
have laid out ' the beginning of our strength;' and unless 
the truth and justice of our symbolical interpretations be 
first disproved, we have little fear that our main position 
can be overthrown. 

Now if it may be fairly assumed that we have, in our 
foregoing discussions, established the grand position, that 
the Millennium, strictly so called, is past, we beg leave to 
request, that no inferential or hypothetical difficulties aris- 
ing from the apprehended relation of this to other doctrines 
of the Scriptures may be allowed to invalidate or vacate 
the above conclusion. It may perhaps be said that, as the 
resurrection of the dead, the day of judgment, the second 
coming of Christ, and the end of the world, are, at least, 
in the prevailing consent of Christians, intimately asso- 
ciated with the close of the Millennium, if that period be 
already past, inextricable confusion rests upon all the cog- 
nate doctrines now mentioned. The mass of the Chris- 
tian world is, on this supposition, utterly thrown out of its 
reckonings, and is reduced to the condition of a vessel in 
mid-ocean which has lost its charts, journals, and instru- 
ments, and which a clouded sky in addition prevents from 
taking any kind of celestial observation. Its course and 
bearings, therefore, its distances and dangers, are all mat- 
ters of vague conjecture and fearful anxiety. 

In answer to this, we have only to say, that we cannot 

see the justice of being held responsible for consequences 

having relation to other truths, provided our main point, the 

proof of which is conducted independently of all correlate 

17 



194 THE MILLENNIUM. 

tenets, is solidly and conclusively made out. It must be 
obvious to the reader that we have proposed to ourselves a 
single object of inquiry and proof, viz. that the Millennium 
of John is past. This position we have treated as capable 
of being established upon independent grounds, by a train 
of argument having no respect to any kindred doctrine 
whatever. If we have succeeded in our attempt, if the de- 
monstration be in itself sound, the conclusion nnist stand, 
however it may be impugned on the ground of being at 
variance with other commonly received articles of faith. 
For any such discrepancy the conclusion caimot be deem- 
ed responsible, nor do we feel that anything remains to us 
but to challenge a rigid scrutiny to our grand position, and 
to the chain of proofs upon which it rests. Let it stand or 
f;ill upon its own merits. 

But on the score of difficulties, whatever may be urged 
against the theory of the present treatise, it may be sug- 
gested, that the common hypothesis of the Millennium is 
by no means exempt from them. It is not a very unusual 
occurrence, when any new view of a theological or scrip- 
tural subject is broached, to array against it a host of objec- 
tions, and to insist upon the formidable difficulties with 
which it is encumbered, as if the old view were free from 
all exceptions, and stood forth in self-evident trutli, while 
in fact it was the difficulties attendant upon the popular be- 
lief which gave rise to the innovation. Thus a warm ad- 
vocate for slavery is fully alive to the difficulties and dan- 
gers of any new scheme of emancipation, and is fertile of 
arguments against them, while he entirely loses sight of the 
perils growing out of the continuance of the evil. It is cer- 
tain that there are points in the popular theory of the Mil- 
lennium which do not readily accord with the descriptions 
of the same period as contained in other portions of the 
Scriptures. According to the prevalent opinion, the dura- 
tion of what is termed ' the latter day glory ' is to be limited. 



THE MILLENNIUM. 195 

to a definite term of years, at the expiration of which a gen- 
eral and stupendous apostasy is to ensue, to be arrested 
only by the sudden appearance of the Son of God throned 
in the clouds of heaven, and coming to judge the quick 
and the dead. Upon this supposition, a dark and porten- 
tous cloud, visible from the commencement of the contem- 
plated period, will approach nearer and nearer, and gath- 
ering blackness in its progress, will eventually surround 
the camp of the saints. Not an eye but must behold the 
innumerable forces of an unknown enemy, rising up as 
from a temporary slumber, like giants refreshed, marshall- 
ing their appalling array, and falling into their count- 
less ranks. Now we cannot but regard this construction 
as at variance with the general drift of the predictions an- 
nouncing the final prosperity and glory of the Redeemer's 
kingdom. Turning to the sublime strains of Isaiah, while 
his closing chapters abound with the most cheering inti- 
mations of a state of unprecedented blessedness, to be en- 
joyed by earth's later generations, we find no specification 
of time by which this golden era is to be circumscribed. 
So also in the more precise and chronological prophecy of 
Daniel, where, if anywhere, we are to look for an exact de- 
termination of times and seasons, the final establishment and 
triumphs of the kingdom of the Messiah are expressly foretold 
without being limited to any special term of years. In the in- 
spired interpretation of that part of Nebuchadnezzar's dream 
in which a stone was seen to be cut out without hands, and 
after smiting, and prostrating, and dashing to pieces the 
colossal image of the vision, to swell to mountain-magnitude 
and finally to fill the whole earth, the monarch was informed 
that " in the days of these kings the God of heaven should 
set up a kingdom, which should never be destroyed : and 
the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall 
break in pieces, and consume all these kingdoms, and it 
shall stand for ever. (And) forasmuch as thou sawest that the 



196 THE MILLENNIUM. 

Stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that 
it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver 
and the gold ; the great God hath made known to the king 
what shall come to pass hereafter."* This magnificent 
result is more explicitly detailed in a subsequent vision 
with its corresponding explanation. " I saw in the night 
visions, and behold one like the Son of man came with the 
clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and 
they brought him near before him. And there was given 
him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people 
and nations and languages should serve him : his dominion 
is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away, and 
his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed. I, Daniel, 
was grieved in my spirit in the midst of my body, and the 
visions of my head troubled me. I came near unto one of 
them that stood by, and asked him the truth (meaning) of 
all this. So he told me, and made me know the interpreta- 
tion of the things. These great beasts, which are four, 
are four kings (kingdoms), which shall arise out of the 
earth. But the saints of the Most High shall take the 
kingdom, and possess the kingdom for ever, and for ever 
and ever. And the kingdom and dominion, and the great- 
ness of the kingdom under the whole heaven shall be given 
to the people of the saints of the Most High,, whose king- 
dom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall 
sene and obey him."f 

Now if this, according to the prevailing impression, be 
indeed prophetic of that period familiarly denominated the 
Millennium, how comes it to be announced in such un- 
qualified terms, on the score of duration ? Here is no- 
thing indicating in the slightest degree that after the lapse 
of a thousand years so tremendous a reverse was to ensue 
as usually enters into the anticipations of the Christian 
world ; nothing which would intimate that the sun of that 

* Dan. 2: 35—45. t Dan. 7: 13—27. 



THE MILLENNIUM. 197 

beatific day, after a bright Millennial circuit, was to set in 
the dreary night of a grand and almost universal apostasy. 
On the contrary, the language plainly bespeaks an era of 
unlimited duration. The saints are to possess the king- 
dom for ever and ever, implying a period, not of eternal^ 
but of indefinite extent. We are, therefore, compelled to 
regard this and the kindred predictions of Daniel and oth- 
er Old Testament prophets, as pointing to an age of the 
world- entirely distinct from the Millennium of John, 
though nothing is more common than to confound them. 
This conviction is strengthened by the fact, that the 
event announced in the following vision of the chronologi- 
cal Prophet of the Old Testament is to take place anteri- 
or to the establishment of that kingdom of the saints to 
which allusion has just been made. Dan. 7: 9 — 11, ' I 
beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient 
of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the 
hair of his head like pure wool : his throne was like the 
fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire. A fiery 
stream issued and came forth from before him : thousand 
thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times 
ten thousand stood before him : the judgment was set and 
the books were opened. I beheld then because of the 
voice of the great words which the horn spake : I beheld 
even till the beast was slain, and his body destroyed, and 
given to the burning flame.'* Now we would ask, whether 

* " The machinery here employed is so obviously borrowed from 
the great day of final retribution, that probably most readers are 
led to imagine the subject of the prediction to be the literal day of 
judgment : yet, as we proceed, it is abundantly clear, that the 
events described in this high strain of poetry all take place upon 
earth, long before the dissolution of our present mundane system, 
and long before the literal judgment both of the quick and the 
dead. The thrones are placed, indeed, and the Ancient of days 
takes his seat upon the tribunal ; but the whole of this is done for 

17* 



198 THE MILLENNIUM. 

upon the common theory of the Millennium, any event an- 
swering to this august representation has yet taken place, 
or is at all provided for among the antecedents of that pe- 
riod ? Is it not, on the other hand, uniformly regarded 
as the pre-intimation of the general judgment, although 
the reason of its introduction in this connexion, as few 
have examined, so few can explain ? But the general 
judgment is understood to follow not precede the popular 
Millennium. Yet this judgment is most unquestionably 
to occur prior to the very period which the mass of the 
Christian world regard as the period of the Millennium. 
How can these things be 1 On the hypothesis which we 
advocate, all difficulty is removed ; on any other, it is in- 
superable. 

The beast here mentioned, as the object of this wasting 
judgment, is expressly affirmed to be identical with the 
fourth or Roman kingdom of the vision, of which it is said, 
that it was to be " diverse from all kingdoms, and should 
devour the whole earth, and should tread it down, and 
break it in pieces." It is upon this bestial sovereignty, 
another name for the collective body of the modern Euro- 

the sole purpose of temporally judging and destroying the corrupt 
Roman Empire ; which by the machinations of the little horn, had 
been seduced into doctrinal apostasy and into active persecution. 
Accordingly, as the Roman Empire neither is, nor could be, judg- 
ed anywhere save in \.\\\s present world; so, even when the judg- 
ment in question is closed, Messiah and his saints have a kingdom 
allotted to them rinder the whole heaven. But if this allotted 
kingdom be xinder the whole heaven, then, indisputably, it must 
be upon this present earth. Hence we clearly learn, that the judg- 
ment, described by Daniel, occurs in the world which we now in- 
habit : and hence also, because circumstances are said to follow 
it which plainly cannot follow the literal day of judgment, we no 
less clearly learn, that it long precedes the /tVero/ judgment-day at 
the universal consummation."— Fflkr'5 Sac. Calend, of Projyh. 
vol. i. p. 222. 



THE MILLENNIUM. 199 

pean kingdoms which sprung from the old Roman empire, 
and which are regarded in prophecy as a prolongation of 
its being, that the fiery judgment is to sit, ** to take away 
its dominion, to consume and to destroy it to the end ;" 
after which it is, that the kingdom under the whole heaven 
is to be given to the people of the saints of the Most High. 
Now the fourth Beast of Daniel is confessedly the seven- 
headed and ten-horned Beast of the revelation, which suc- 
ceeded the Dragon, and whose reigning career is to be 
wound up with the expiration of the period of 12G0 years 
from its commencement, an epoch to the borders of which 
we have now, in the revolution of centuries, and the eventu- 
ations of Providence, very closely approximated. The 
downfall of these despotic governments, in consequence of 
the spread and influence of liberal principles among the 
great mass of the population of Europe, is the appointed 
precursor in the counsels of Heaven to the ushering in of 
the ecumenical empire of Christ and his saints. The event 
we suppose to be alluded to in the expression — " I beheld 
till the thrones ivcrc cast doivn ;" i. e. the thrones of the ex- 
isting monarchies of Christendom, every one of which is a 
nuisance to the earth, that must be swept away before the 
advances of the kingdom of righteousness. For " where 
the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty." But true lib- 
erty cannot consist with hereditary sovereignty in any por- 
tion of the globe. Putting a crown on the head of a king 
is putting an extinguisher on the lamp of freedom. And 
accordingly, in the sublime annunciation of the period in 
question, which we affirm to be a period of unlimited con- 
tinuance, and which is introduced by the sounding of the 
seventh trumpet, it is said. Rev. 11: 15, ' And the seventh 
angel sounded ; and there were great voices in heaven, say- 
ing, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms 
of our Lord, and his Christ ; and he shall reign for ever and 
ever.' By this is intended, that the pernicious, but tolerat- 



200 THE MILLENNIUM. 

ed, domination which had hitherto been exercised by the 
sceptre-bearing powers of this world was to come to an end 
by being merged in the high and holy, the benign and wel- 
come, lordship of the King of saints, who was to be crown- 
ed with many crowns, and to receive the willing homage of 
a regenerated world. 

But as a change like this in the existing state of things 
could not be effected without violent revolutions, involving 
the downfall of governments, the ostracism of privileged 
orders, the cessation of long-established usages, the pro- 
scription of inveterate opinions ; in a word, the upheaving 
of the ancient foundations of society : it is not unfitly re- 
presented by the imagery of a sitting 'judgment,' especially 
as the whole is to be accomplished under the immediate 
overruling providence of God. It is obvious, moreover, 
that no short period of time is necessary for the production 
of a result so stupendous. Being a change which is to be 
effected by the operation of moral, and not by miraculous 
agency, it must be gradual in its accomplishment ; and al- 
though in our own day the elements are beginning to work, 
and the incipient developments to display themselves, yet 
the present generation may be permitted to see but a very 
few pages unrolled of the great volume of destiny. Death, 
the ruthless interrupter, will doubtless throw his impenetra- 
ble films before our eyes, and hide from us all but the early 
dawn of that day which is even now spreading its light 
upon the mountains. But ' instead of the fathers shall be 
the children.' The men of another generation shall arise 
to push forward the fortunes of the world. They shall be- 
hold the morning-tide waxing brighter and brighter to the 
perfect day, and finally rejoice in the effulgence of its high 
meridian. 

'* So God hath g^reatly purposed. — • 
Haste then, and wheel away a shattered world, 
Ye slow revolving seasons ! we would see 



THE MILLENNIUM. 201 

(A sight to which our eyes are strangers yet) 
A world that does not hate and dread his laws, 
And suffer for its crime ; would learn how fair 
The creature is that God pronounces good." 

COWPEK. 

We have remarked that according to the prevailing sen- 
timents of Christians, that felicitous and glorious state of 
the church which forms the burden of the closing predic- 
tions of Isaiah, when the valleys shall be exalted, and the 
mountains and hills made low ; and the crooked shall be 
made straight, and the rough places plain — when the Lord 
shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it too;ether — when 
the gentiles shall come to the light of Zion, and kings to 
the brightness of her rising — when instead of the thorn 
shall come up the fir-tree, and instead of the brier shall 
come up the myrtle-tree — when for brass shall be brought 
gold, for iron silver, and for wood brass, and for stones 
iron — when Jerusalem shall be created a rejoicing, and her 
people a joy — when the voice of weeping shall no more be 
heard in her, nor the voice of crying — when the wolf and 
the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw 
like a bullock, and they shall not hurt nor destroy in all 
the Lord's holy mountain, — this surpassingly blissful state, 
we say, is usually considered as corresponding chronologi- 
cally with the Millennium of John. But this predicted state, 
it will be found on examination, is identical with the ' new 
heavens and new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness,' 
and which, according to the Apostle Peter, is to be preced- 
ed by what is generally deemed to be the final conflagra- 
tion of the earth. We would ask, then, what collocation, 
in point of time, is to be assigned to this great event 1 
' The day of the Lord,' says the Apostle, ' will come as a 
thief in the night ; in the which the heavens shall pass 
away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with 
fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein 



202 THE MILLENNIUM. 

shall be burned up. Nevertheless we, according to his 
promise, look for a new heaven and a new earth, wherein 
dwelleth righteousness.' Here, allusion is made to a spe- 
cial promise contained in some other part of the scriptures, 
by which we are taught to expect a superlatively happy 
period to ensue, notwithstanding so great an event as the 
precedent passing away of the heavens and the earth. But 
the promise here referred to is no other than a part of the 
prophetic intimations of Isaiah in that very series of pre- 
dictions which we have already cited as pointing to the 
period of the popular Millennium. For it is after the as- 
surance — ' behold, I create new heavens and a new earth ' 
— that the strain of prophecy goes on to depict the felici- 
ties of that self-same state which is supposed to be identical 
with the Apocalyptic Millennium. The inference is inevi- 
table, that if Isaiah and John have respect in their predic- 
tions to the same period, the conflagration is to precede 
the Millennium. This claims a very attentive considera- 
tion from those who may not be prepared to admit the 
views advocated in the foregoing pages. 

For ourselves, we are well persuaded that the above- 
mentioned class of O. T. prophecies has no relation what- 
ever, but that of centurial posteriority, to the Millennium 
announced in the Revelation. The only portions of this 
latter book referring to the same period are those contain- 
ed in the last two chapters, giving a description of * the 
holy city, the New Jerusalem, coming down from God out 
of heaven, adorned as a bride for her husband,' and shad- 
owing forth a triumphant and blessed state of the church 
on earth — a state not bounded by any special limitation of 
years. As to the conflagration of Peter, we are compelled, 
with Mede and others, to regard it as denoting, not a lite- 
ral, but a figurative, conflagration, adumbrating the close of 
a dispensation, the violent abrogation of a previous order 
of things, the dissolution and prostration of the entire fab- 



THE MILLENNIUM. 203 

ric of governments, and polities, and systems formerly sub- 
sisting and essentially at variance with the genius of that 
new and happier economy which was to be introduced. 
In describing this great and momentous change as a de- 
struction of the heavens and the earth by fire, the Apostle 
is merely adopting the lofty and high-wrought style of the 
former prophets, who frequently represent great revolu- 
tions, whether secular or ecclesiastical, under the imagery 
of fires, earthquakes, the removal of mountains and islands, 
the falling of stars, the departing of the heavens as a scroll, 
and the wreck as it were of the whole terraqueous and 
planetary system.* Thus Isaiah, ch. xxiv, speaking of an 
event of this kind, says: "Behold, the Lord maketh the 
earth empty, aud maketh it waste, and turneth it upside 
down, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof. The 
earth mourneth and languisheth, the world languisheth 
and fadeth away. The curse hath devoured the earth, 
and they that dwell therein are desolate: Therefore, the 
inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left. 
The windows from on high are opened, and the founda- 
tions of the earth do shake. The earth is utterly broken 
down, the earth is clean dissolved, the earth is moved ex- 
ceedingly. The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunk- 
ard, and shall be removed like a cottage : and the trans- 
gression thereof shall be heavy upon it ; and it shall fall 
and not rise again." So also ch. 34: 2-4, where the Most 
High declares his indignation to be upon all nations, and 
his fury upon all their armies, he moreover affirms, that 
" all the host of heaven shall be dissolved, and the heavens 

* " Great earthquakes, and the shaking of heaven and earth, so 
as to distract and overthrow them ; the creating a new heaven 
and earth, and the passing away of an old one, or the beginning 
and end of a world, (are put) for the rise and ruin of a body politic, 
signified thereby." — Sir J. J^eiotorCs Observ. on the Proph. part i. 
ch. 2. 



204 THE MILLENNIUM. 

shall he rolled together as a scroll : and all their host shall 
fall down as the leaf falleth off from the vine, and as a fall- 
ing fig from the fig-tree." Thus also Nah. 1: 5, where 
the judicial vengeance of God against his enemies is inti- 
mated, it is said, " The mountains quake at him, and the 
hills melt, and the earth is burned at his presence, yea, the 
world and all that dwell therein." 

These passages afford, we apprehend, a clew to the par- 
allel language of Peter. And if the destruction of Jerusa- 
lem be described by terms borrowed from the final con- 
summation of all things, we see not why such a stupen- 
dous moral revolution as that which is to precede the new 
heavens and the new earth may not properly be shadowed 
out by the elevated diction of tlie Apostle. The words, 
therefore, like most other of the prophetical phrases which 
we have had occasion to consider, denote not a sudden, but 
a gradual and progressive abolition of the things previously 
existing.* The destruction of the mundane sphere by fire 

* " The Holy Ghost, therefore, shows us affirmatively and ex- 
plicitly, that the old heaven and earth are removed to make way 
for a new heaven and new earth, that is, a new government and a 
new people, as we have before shown these symbols signify. Now 
1 say that the removal of the old heaven and the earth, and the in- 
troduction of the new heaven and earth, are symbols of a prophecy 
which has not its accomplishment in a sudden revolution or mo- 
ment, but in progress of time :. that is, the new heaven and earth 
begin to be constituted, and have the beginning of their existence, 
as the constitution of the old heaven and earth wears away, which 
is done by steps. And whereas some people are apt to fancy a 
thorough change in the visible constitution of the universe as to 
the heavenly bodies, this is not only inconsistent with the nature 
of the prophetical style, which assumes these objects merely for 
symbols of the political world, but also contrary to the constant 
opinion of the primitive fathers, who, as 1 have shown elsewhere, 
understood this renovation as we have explained it. And if there 
be any alteration in the visible frame of nature, it is only as a con- 



THE MILLENNIUM. 205 

denotes the wasting visitations of the wrath of heaven upon 
the entire fabric of those ancient policies, oppressions, and 
delusions, under which the earth had so long groaned. It 
is the passing away of the old constitution of the world. 
The 'elements' of error were to be dissolved and 'melted' 
by the purifying fire of truth ; while the new heavens and 
the new earth are but another name for that renovated or- 
der of things, moral, mental, and political, which is the 
natural result of the universal and genuine influence of the 
Gospel of Christ. Let the religion of the Bible have but 
its legitimate operation, let it do its ' perfect work' among 
men, and it would inevitably effect a complete transfor- 
mation in the state of the world — one fitly represented by 
the new heavens and new earth, an expression pointing to 
a moral instead of di physical renovation. 

And this we apprehend to be in fact the state which 
is now to be anticipated by the Christian world. Dis- 
carding as a fond, but fallacious dream, the idea of any 
particular period of a thousand years to be distinguished 
by unprecedented prosperity, peace, and triumph to the 
church, and to be followed by a proportion ably calamitous 
reverse, we are to look upon the page of prophecy as dis- 
closing far other and brighter prospects to the eye of faith. 
Fully and adequately to unfold these prospects would be 
to enter into a minute exposition of the two concluding 
chapters of the Apocalypse in which they are so fully, 
though mystically, shadowed forth. But as the specific 
design of the present work does not embrace such an in- 
vestigation, we shall wave an entrance upon it, especially 
as a volume of no mean dimensions would be requisite for 
a thorough canvassing of the points which it would neces- 
sarily involve. We barely remark that the canons of ex- 
sequence or necessary condition, to make this earth and heaven a 
proper receptacle of the glorified saints." — Daubuz' Perpet. Com- 
ment, p. 964. 

" 18 



206 THE MILLENNIUM. 

egesis by which the interpretation of the book of Revela- 
tion is to be governed, particularly in what relates to the 
future, are not yet invested with that demonstrative cer- 
tainty in the estimation of Christians, which would war- 
rant the extended development of our private views upon 
the subject. We have no doubt, however, that a process 
of inquiry instituted with reference to that point, would 
result in the conviction, that many of the Scriptural repre- 
sentations which are now generally understood of the hea- 
venly state, or of the scene of eternal blessedness in another 
zvorld, do in reality describe a state of things which is yet 
to ensue 07i earth, and of which mortal men inhabiting 
houses of clay, are to be the happy witnesses, objects, 
agents, and chroniclers. " And I heard a great voice out 
of heaven, saying, Behold the tabernacle of God is icith 
men, and he will dwell ivith them, and they shall be his 
people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their 
God. And God shall wipe all tears from their eyes ; and 
there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, 
neither shall there be any more pain : for the former 
THINGS ARE PASSED AWAY. And he that sat upon the 
throne said, Behold I make all things new." 

" O scenes surpassing fable, and yet true, 

Scenes of accomplished bliss ! which who can see, 
Though but in distant prospect, and not feel 



One song employs all nations. — 
The dwellers in the vales and on the rocks 
Shout to each other, and the mountain-tops 
From distant mountains catch the flying joy, 
Till, nation after nation taught the strain, 
Earth rolls the rapturous hosanna round." 

COWPER. 



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